Good Practice Guidelines

The Second Edition of the DVNSW Good Practice Guidelines has been developed based on feedback from the sector and recommendations from an independent review in 2019/20 by the University of NSW. Through extensive consultation, these guidelines have evolved to have a greater focus on intersectionality and redesigned to be more user-friendly and practical.

Core & Cluster resources

To help support services participating in the Core and Cluster Refuge Procurement and ongoing with specialist DFV service delivery, DVNSW has developed a range of useful resources. These resources cover elements of service design and delivery most relevant to the Core and Cluster refuge setting with a focus on specialist domestic and family violence informed and trauma informed service delivery. We have also shared other relevant resources developed by our members and other specialists in the field.

Disaster Support and recovery

We acknowledge that natural disasters such as floods, fires and health pandemics are often followed by increases in the severity and number of cases of domestic and family violence, meaning already stretched services will be put under increased strain. We have collected a range of resources that services may find helpful.

Conference 2022

The DVNSW conference is a biennial event that brings the sector together in a shared purpose of connecting and learning. Subject matter experts - speakers, panellists, lived expertise advocates and facilitators, lead robust discussions on the pressing issues within the sector and reflect on ways we can address them.

Workplace resources

Workplaces have a role to play in supporting people experiencing domestic and family violence. Domestic Violence NSW and My Business collaborated to provide a report on the role of business in supporting victim-survivors.

Domestic & family violence statistics

In NSW there are approximately 2,500 reports of domestic violence to the police every month – but this likely represents only 40% of actual incidents due to underreporting (NCOSS, 2020). DVNSW has collected the most up to date statistics from a range of sources across the Domestic and Family Violence and intersecting sectors.

Housing resources

We acknowledge that for many clients, exit pathways from crisis, temporary and transitional accommodation into safe and secure homes are limited. For those clients that are financially suitable for the private rental market, these resources can be helpful for services to use in addressing some of the barriers they may face as well as helping clients prepare for a tenancy.

Specialist Homelessness Services Industry Partnership

The Industry Partnership is a collaboration between the three peak bodies for Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) – Domestic Violence NSW, Yfoundations and Homelessness NSW. The purpose of the Industry Partnership is to improve outcomes for homeless people by supporting SHS providers delivering domestic and family violence, youth and specialist homelessness services.

Specialist Domestic and Family Violence

Responding to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence (DFV) is specialised work. Specialist DFV services are victim-survivor-centred, safe, culturally appropriate and responsive to the needs of marginalised cohorts. The DVNSW, DFV Specialisation Definition and Assessment, defines and describes the specialised work of responding to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and supports services to self-assess their knowledge, skills, experience, systems and processes.