Hello and welcome to this instructional video to support navigation of the MARAM Practice Guides. This video was filmed on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of Kulin nation and Family Safety Victoria acknowledges and pays respect to elders past and present.
The MARAM Practice Guides have been developed to support professionals to understand their relevant responsibilities under the MARAM Framework. They provide guidance to support the identification, assessment and ongoing management of family violence risk, as it relates to professional roles and opportunities to respond to victim survivors and perpetrators.
The MARAM Practice Guides include a victim survivor-focused set of guides and an adult perpetrator-focused set of guides. The purpose of this video is to provide a brief overview of their contents and suggestions for use in practice.
The MARAM Practice Guides are currently in three parts:
- Foundation Knowledge Guide, which covers both those using and experiencing violence
- Guides for victim survivor practice covering MARAM responsibilities 1-10
- Guides for responding to adult perpetrators using violence, also covering MARAM responsibilities 1-10.
Further practice guides are intended for release, including practice guidance for adolescents who use family violence.
The Foundation Knowledge Guide focuses on key concepts for practice and presentations of risk across different age groups and communities.
It covers topics such as:
- MARAM family violence risk factors that underpin identification and assessment at each level of practice
- Understanding of the gendered drivers of family violence, and applying an intersectional lens to understand presentations of risk across relationships and communities
- Using victim-centred, trauma- and violence informed practice approaches
- Structured Professional Judgement that supports decision making on level of risk and response
This guide is required reading for all professionals prior to engaging with the MARAM Responsibilities as the core concepts are referred to and built upon in the subsequent MARAM Responsibility chapters.
Both victim survivor and adult perpetrator Practice Guides have 10 chapters, one for each corresponding MARAM responsibility.
Professionals’ responsibilities will vary based on the nature of their role within a service or organisation. If you are unsure what MARAM responsibilities apply to your role, it is advised to check in with your manager.
Responsibility 1 chapters are for all professionals and guides respectful, sensitive and safe engagement.
Responsibility 2 chapters consider how to identify family violence, a screening tool for working with victim survivors and an identification tool to identify indicators of risk when working with a person using violence.
Responsibility chapters 3 and 4 guide risk assessment and risk management practice for professionals in non-specialist family violence roles.
Responsibility chapters 7 and 8 guide risk assessment and risk management practice for specialist family violence practitioners.
Responsibility chapters 5 and 6 guide referrals, secondary consultations and information sharing.
And finally, responsibility chapters 9 and 10 guide multi-agency collaborative and coordinated practice. This is led by specialist family violence practitioners and a range of professionals from across the service system to contribute as needed.
We will now take a look at one of the MARAM guides for victim survivors to explore the lay out, which is consistent across all guides.
Each guide starts with an overview of the content and a summary of the key capabilities required to apply the MARAM responsibility practice.
The chapter links back to concepts introduced in the Foundation Knowledge Guide – such as here where the structured professional judgement model is discussed in the context of screening and identification practice
There may be references to appendices, such as the screening and identification tool, which accompanies the chapter covering Responsibility 2.
The chapter then moves into detailed guidance on key topics. For example, in Responsibility 2, the topics include understanding why someone may not want to answer your questions and how to screen risk for children and young people.
Each chapter provides relevant guidance on how to use associated tools and templates which help put the guidance into practice.
Each chapter has guidance on actions a professional can take, concludes with practical advice on what to do next and links to other Responsibility chapters.
You will start to see as you become familiar with the guides that this is a familiar structure used throughout.
In addition to the MARAM Practice Guides, MARAM tools and templates have been developed. They can be found alongside the MARAM Practice Guides as appendices.
There are tools for identifying, assessing and managing risk and other tools such as genograms.
Each tool assists professionals to gather information and supports their understanding of the risk factors present, supported by the guidance of the related chapter. Collecting information in consistent ways assists with information sharing and collaboration across services.
The guides contain a large amount of information and are lengthy, but you should be aware there isn’t an expectation to read them all at once and memorise them.
The guides are there to support you as you develop and maintain your MARAM skills and family violence capabilities.
The Foundation Knowledge Guide is the best place to start to create a shared understanding of key practice concepts and for on-going reference.
The Responsibility guide chapters should be read prior to putting MARAM responsibilities into practice. They are then intended to be a useful resource and reference material to support practice.
The MARAM Practice Guides are universal in their application, with the options for tailoring by sectors over time. For more detailed advice on using the MARAM Framework and Practice Guides in your practice, you should seek the advice of your organisation or department about any aligned policies, procedures, practice guidance or tools.
The resources referred to can be found on the MARAM resources webpage at www.vic.gov.au/maram-practice-guides-and-resources.
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