Odyssey House Victoria has been participating in the STACY (Safe And Together Addressing complexitY) Project. The project aims to up-skill clinicians and build the capacity of organisations who are working with children and families experiencing family violence where there are co-occurring parental issues of mental health and AOD use. This research project is supported by a large research team across three participating states and is led by Professor Cathy Humphreys and Dr Lucy Healey from the Department of Social Work at the University of Melbourne.
Given the overwhelming evidence about the commonality of parental mental health and AOD issues in families experiencing domestic and family violence, along with the harmful impacts on children, we felt it was vital to be at the forefront of this innovative project. Odyssey continues in its efforts to ensure that we keep children safe by training our staff to identify and know how best to respond to child safety and family violence.