Supporting Client Safety through Intersectional and Collaborative Practice
While many behaviour support practitioners are confident supporting people through complex and sensitive situations, family violence presents additional considerations that can fundamentally alter how communication, risk, decision-making, service engagement and support responses should be understood.
At BSPA’s recent webinar, Brittany McCormack, Lisa Ashton and Abbie Koenig from the Family Violence and Disability Practice Leader Initiative explored how family violence, coercive control and disability intersect, and what this means for behaviour support practice.
Why this matters
Behaviour support practitioners are often uniquely positioned to notice changes in a person’s wellbeing, support arrangements, relationships, living circumstances or environment. Through ongoing engagement with participants, practitioners may also become trusted professionals to whom concerns are disclosed.
Family violence disproportionately affects women with disability.
Presenters highlighted research showing that 48% of women with disability experience violence, compared with 28% of women without disability. Violence is often more frequent, occurs over longer periods, spans a wider range of settings and may be perpetrated by a broader range of people, including paid carers. Women with disability also face additional barriers when seeking support, including inaccessible services, communication barriers, financial disadvantage, discrimination, fear of not being believed and limited opportunities to seek safety.
The impacts can be profound. Victim survivors may be navigating not only concerns about their immediate safety, but also discrimination, social isolation, service barriers and long-term health impacts associated with violence.
For behaviour support practitioners, these statistics reinforce why family violence awareness is relevant to everyday practice, regardless of a practitioner’s role, location or service setting.
Understanding family violence: power, control and coercion
A key message throughout the webinar was that family violence is not simply a collection of incidents.
Family violence was described as an intentional abuse of power and trust, often involving an ongoing pattern of behaviours used to intimidate, control and restrict another person’s autonomy. Presenters discussed coercive control as a pattern of abusive behaviours used over time to establish and maintain power and dominance over another person.
These behaviours can include:
- Emotional and psychological abuse
- Physical and sexual violence
- Financial abuse
- Social isolation
- Threats and intimidation
- Monitoring and surveillance
- Restricting independence and decision-making
- Technology-facilitated abuse
- Systems abuse and manipulation of services
The webinar explored the Power and Control Wheel, a widely used framework that demonstrates how various abusive tactics work together to establish and maintain control. Presenters also discussed an adapted Power and Control Wheel developed specifically for people with disability and their caregivers, illustrating how disability-related needs, support arrangements and dependencies can be exploited by people using violence.
For behaviour support practitioners, this framework provides an important lens through which to understand distress, support challenges and behavioural presentations within a broader context of power, control, coercion and safety.
How disability can be weaponised through family violence
A significant focus of the webinar was understanding how disability, support arrangements and service systems can be used by a person using violence to gain and maintain control.
Presenters highlighted that behaviour support practitioners and other disability professionals are often uniquely positioned to identify these concerns. Unlike many crisis and response services, disability practitioners may work alongside people with disability over extended periods and often within home and community environments. This can provide important insights into communication preferences, support arrangements, changing circumstances, relationship dynamics and patterns of control that may otherwise go unnoticed.
The presenters emphasised that family violence experienced by people with disability may include many of the forms of abuse experienced by others, but can also involve tactics that specifically exploit disability, support needs, communication methods, funding arrangements, equipment, service systems and reliance on care.
Controlling decision-making and services
Examples discussed included:
- Speaking on behalf of the person when engaging with services.
- Making decisions under the guise of acting in the person’s “best interests”.
- Restricting or disrupting participation in supports.
- Preventing professionals from accessing the home.
- Pressuring a person to disengage from services.
- Manipulating service systems to maintain control.
Restricting independence and mobility
Examples discussed included:
- Restricting access to mobility aids or communication devices.
- Damaging wheelchairs, assistive technology or specialist equipment.
- Preventing freedom of movement.
- Misusing restraint or restrictive practices.
- Restricting access to personal items required for independence.
Exploiting care and support needs
Examples discussed included:
- Withholding care or assistance.
- Deliberately increasing a person’s dependence.
- Providing inadequate support.
- Threatening withdrawal of care or services.
- Using support needs as a mechanism of control.
Financial exploitation
Examples discussed included:
- Controlling NDIS plans and funding.
- Misappropriating Disability Support Pension or NDIS funds.
- Misusing guardianship, financial management or power of attorney arrangements.
- Refusing access to disability-related supports, equipment or medication.
Controlling health, communication and autonomy
Examples discussed included:
- Restricting access to medication or healthcare.
- Over-medicating or under-medicating.
- Interfering with communication methods.
- Monitoring communication and relationships.
- Denying privacy and independence.
Emotional and psychological abuse
Examples discussed included:
- Telling a person they will not be believed because of their disability.
- Threatening institutionalisation.
- Using disability-related stigma to undermine confidence and credibility.
- Sharing confidential information without consent.
- Threatening service animals or other supports.
A key takeaway for practitioners was that what may initially appear to be a support issue, family disagreement, behavioural concern or service challenge may in some situations form part of a broader pattern of coercive control and family violence.
Ask. Listen. Believe.
Another strong message throughout the webinar was the importance of believing victim survivors.
Presenters acknowledged that disclosures of family violence often require significant courage and that many victim survivors face barriers to disclosing concerns. Fear of retaliation, concerns about not being believed, dependence on the person using violence, concerns for children, previous experiences of discrimination, and fears about how systems may respond can all influence whether, when and to whom a person chooses to disclose.
When disclosures occur, practitioners were encouraged to:
- Listen without judgement.
- Believe the person.
- Reinforce that abuse is never their fault.
- Respect their choices.
- Avoid pressuring them to take action.
- Support access to specialist services when it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Presenters also reinforced that a person’s decision not to disclose, not to engage with services, or not to take action should not be interpreted as a lack of concern for their safety. People experiencing family violence often have an intimate understanding of the risks they face and may be making decisions based on their own safety planning.
Being led by victim survivors as the experts of their experience
Perhaps the most consistent theme throughout the webinar was that victim survivors are experts in their own experience.
Presenters emphasised that people experiencing family violence often have the most detailed understanding of the person using violence, the risks they face, factors that increase or reduce danger, and the strategies they already use to manage safety for themselves and their families.
This aligns strongly with principles familiar to behaviour support practitioners, including choice and control, supported decision-making and the concept of “nothing about us without us”. However, the presenters encouraged attendees to consider these principles through a family violence lens.
People experiencing violence are already living within environments characterised by control and coercion. Opportunities for choice, empowerment, supported decision-making and self-determination were described as “anti-violence” practices because they actively challenge and counter the power and control that underpin family violence.
Supporting access to information, creating opportunities for informed decision-making and following the lead of the person were identified as important ways practitioners can promote safety, autonomy and recovery.
Applying behaviour support practice through a family violence lens
Many of the approaches discussed throughout the webinar will already be familiar to behaviour support practitioners.
Creating opportunities for communication, promoting choice and control, using supported decision-making approaches, collaborating with other professionals and maintaining a person-centred focus are foundational elements of quality behaviour support practice.
However, presenters highlighted that when family violence may be present, these existing skills and responsibilities often need to be applied differently and with heightened consideration of safety, coercive control and risk. A person’s willingness to disclose, who is present during conversations, how information is shared, and what action is taken next can all have significant implications for their safety.
The discussion reinforced that effective responses are not solely about recognising indicators of family violence or knowing where to refer someone. They also require practitioners to understand how family violence may influence communication, decision-making, service engagement, risk and self-determination.
Communication, safety and collaborative responses
The webinar identified a number of practice considerations that become particularly important when family violence may be present.
These included:
- Creating safe opportunities for conversations away from people who may be using violence.
- Recognising that disclosure is a choice and may form part of a person’s own safety planning.
- Ensuring information, resources and communication methods can be accessed safely without increasing risk. This includes carefully considering whether emails, text messages, printed information or other materials could be accessed by a person using violence.
- Understanding how family violence considerations intersect with existing professional obligations, including organisational reporting requirements, NDIS incident and abuse reporting responsibilities, mandatory reporting obligations and state-based legislative frameworks.
- Working collaboratively with specialist family violence services when concerns arise, recognising that disability and family violence sectors each bring different but complementary expertise.
- Sharing information relevant to safety and risk appropriately and lawfully, while ensuring information-sharing decisions do not inadvertently increase risk or compromise victim survivor safety.
Presenters repeatedly reinforced that practitioners do not need to respond in isolation and encouraged consultation with specialist family violence services when concerns arise.
Key takeaway
While many behaviour support practitioners may feel confident recognising indicators of family violence and responding to disclosures, the webinar highlighted that effective practice requires more than recognising concern.
It requires understanding family violence through a lens of power, control and coercion; recognising how disability can be weaponised; supporting choice and self-determination through anti-violence practice; and applying familiar behaviour support principles in ways that prioritise safety, autonomy and victim survivor leadership.
Most importantly, safe and effective responses begin by recognising the person with disability as the expert in their own experience and ensuring their voice remains central to decision-making.
PRACTITIONER REFLECTION CHECKLIST
When family violence may be present, behaviour support practitioners can consider:
Recognition and understanding
☐ Have I considered whether what appears to be a support issue, behavioural concern, relationship conflict or family disagreement could be occurring within a broader context of coercive control or family violence?
☐ Have I considered how disability, support needs, communication methods, funding arrangements, equipment or reliance on care may be being used to maintain control?
Communication and engagement
☐ Am I creating opportunities to communicate safely and privately, away from people who may be using violence?
☐ Have I considered the person’s communication, sensory and accessibility needs before discussing sensitive topics?
☐ If information or resources are being provided, have I considered whether emails, text messages, printed materials or websites can be accessed safely?
Choice, control and supported decision-making
☐ Am I supporting the person to express their own views, preferences and goals?
☐ Am I following the lead of the person rather than making assumptions about what they should do next?
☐ Have I reflected on opportunities to promote choice, control and self-determination as an anti-violence practice?
Professional responsibilities
☐ Do I understand my organisation’s reporting requirements and relevant NDIS incident, abuse and safeguarding obligations?
☐ Have I considered whether there are legislative, reporting or information-sharing responsibilities that apply in this situation?
☐ Am I confident that any information sharing supports safety and does not inadvertently increase risk to the person with disability?
Collaboration and support
☐ Have I sought advice, supervision or secondary consultation where needed?
☐ Have I considered whether specialist family violence services should be involved to support risk assessment, safety planning or response?
☐ Am I being mindful that responding to family violence is a shared responsibility and not something practitioners need to manage in isolation?
Read the webinar resources including where to find further information and support
