With the current pandemic, sector workers are prohibited from delivering face-to-face counselling services including the critical Men’s Behaviour Change Programs. As a peak body, we felt a strong sense of purpose: to gather our member community to discuss, equip and prepare the workforce for rapid and unexpected changes that have restricted many of our services.

We hosted our first briefing session that was delivered to our members on Friday 20 March.

The first briefing session was well attended and well received. Subsequently, we’ve hosted drop-in sessions where a range of issues have emerged, from online counselling to cyber security. We are hosting drop-ins over Zoom most days. We are monitoring and responding to need and so we can scale up and down the frequency depending on what members need to know or need us to know. If you have suggestions for topics to be discussed please contact: communications@ntv.org.au

We’ve also published practice guidelines that can be used during the pandemic to assist as many sector workers as possible and to be readily available for ongoing reference. 

Family Safety Contact (FSC) Community of Practice (CoP)

The Family Safety Contact (FSC) Community of Practice (CoP) was planned to be held in person during April and May. Due to the breakout of COVID-19, we are cancelling the face-to-face meetings and moving them online to Zoom.

The sessions will still be held in April and May and while dates are yet to be confirmed, we hope to host:

• Four one-hour sessions for FSC practitioners
• Two discussions regarding MARAM, which is targeted towards Victorians, and
• Two open discussions for FSC practitioners across the country.