Changing Ways pilot program - intensive, coordinated responses to adults using violence

The Changing Ways pilot program is designed to manage serious risk to help ensure victim-survivors, including children and young people, are kept safer by increasing the focus on the person using violence. This is through intensive interventions, individual behaviour change work and multi-agency collaboration to prevent future harm. This initiative addresses the gap identified by the Expert Advisory Committee on Perpetrator Interventions in community-based responses that target adults who pose a serious risk with their use of family violence.

Initially funded by Victoria as a 2-year pilot program from 2023-2025, Changing Ways received funding in the 2025-26 State Budget to allow the program to continue for an additional 2 years to June 2027. Commencing in late 2023, Changing Ways is delivered by Meli in the Barwon area and Good Shepherd, in partnership with Peninsula Health, in the Bayside Peninsula area. An Aboriginal-led program is delivered by Dardi Munwurro in North-Eastern and Southern Metropolitan Melbourne and is tailored to meet the needs of First Nations communities. An external evaluation of the program is currently in progress.

Victoria has been allocated funding under the Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses Federation Funding Agreement 2021-30 to enhance the Changing Ways pilot through the design and implementation of a post-participation service for those previously supported by Changing Ways. The Changing Ways pilot will also be improved by strengthening perpetrator-focussed Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management aligned practice when working with perpetrators who pose serious risk. The funding also supports an external evaluation of the enhancements, which will be facilitated through an extension of the evaluation that is currently in progress.