About the SPARKing Evidence Based Practice series:

This series aims to share emerging research and foster conversation to unpack what it means for practice. Dr Karen Struthers is the series facilitator and you can find out more about it here: https://events.humanitix.com/t...

About our second topic:

This topic is about the development, trial and evaluation of a demand management framework for the community legal sector and how we may apply the learnings in our own context.

The action research project we will explore was managed and resourced by the peak body, Community Legal Centres Queensland, with the action research component supported by Clarity Consortium. Nine centres participated in the project. Four trial centres participated as autonomous services that made their own decisions and changes, drawing on their participation in the action research and with practical support from the peak body. Five other centres participated as ‘buddy sites’ to contribute and learn from the project.

Research conducted identified the following key lessons, identified by the four trial centres:

Good data is powerful
Be clear about the problem and purpose
Bring people with you
Make time and be deliberate

This SPARKing Evidence Based Practice series will present an overview of the action research project and findings. Presenters will include Clarity Consortium, Community Legal Centres Queensland, and some of the participating centres.

The presenters are Rachel Healy and Gretchen Young, Clarity Consortium; Sam Cooper, Community Legal Centres Queensland and workers from First Nations Women’s Legal Service Queensland and HUB Community Projects.

Session 1 will present the project overview and key findings, session 2 will allow for a Q&A session with the presenters.

Event Details:

Webinar to share the research:
Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm (AEST - Queensland Time)
Location: Online
Practice Conversation to unpack what it means for you:
Date: Wednesday, 1 June 2022
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm (AEST - Queensland Time)
Location: Online

We encourage you to attend both to get the most from this program.

Who should attend

Domestic and Family Violence Worker, Women's Health or Sexual Assault Workers.

About the facilitator and presenters

Karen Struthers

Karen Struthers will be the facilitator, and at times disruptor, of discussions in the SPARKing Evidence Based Practice series. Karen is a researcher, activist, policy-nut and former MP and Minister. Karen has also worked in domestic and family violence. This broad experience means Karen is well placed to spark some great discussions that will be of interest to people working at all levels across the sector.

Rachel Healy

Rachel is a researcher, evaluator and problem-solver with significant experience in public policy development, running courses for public servants and the not for profit sector in advising government. She works regularly with the community legal sector, particularly Women’s Legal Services and in 2021 conducted research into how community legal centres could best identify and respond to clients experiencing coercive control.

Gretchen Young

Gretchen brings strategic foresight principles and methods to her work as a facilitator, evaluator and researcher. She supports communities, organisations and individuals to respond to emerging futures and realise their preferred future. Gretchen is a health care professional by training and has extensive experience supporting organisations with service and workforce planning.

Samantha Cooper

Samantha is a proud Gumbaynggirr woman from NSW and is employed at Community Legal Centres Queensland as a State Sector Sustainability Coordinator, with a background in strategic policy and project management. She previously worked at Legal Aid Queensland as the Aboriginal Policy Project Officer implementing the First Nations Strategic Plan for reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice systems. Sam was the Indigenous Domestic Violence specialist in Moreton Bay and ran the pilot project for the high-risk team implementing the integrated service response.