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Secondary Consultations

Purpose

This section provides advice for workers in the Bayside Peninsula Area about family violence secondary consultations.

Secondary consultations provide valuable specialist expertise and support to workers in assessing and managing family violence risk. A secondary consultation may lead to a referral for a victim survivor for comprehensive risk assessment and risk management, or a referral to receive further support or services.

Further guidance and advice is provided in the MARAM Practice Guide – Responsibility 5: Secondary consultation and referral, including for comprehensive family violence assessment and management response https://www.vic.gov.au/maram-practice-guides-and-resources/responsibility-5

Who you can seek a secondary consultation with

You can seek a secondary consultation with:

  • someone in your organisation – there may be a family violence expert in your organisation – check your organisational policies and follow your organisations secondary consultation procedures

a specialist family violence service to:

  • understand the level of risk, seek expert advice and guidance, and seek a comprehensive risk assessment
  • assist you to consider risk through an intersectional lens – applying an intersectional lens means to understand a persons multi-layered identity, life experience, their experience of inequality and oppression, and factoring this into your risk assessment
  • help you determine actions in line with the level of risk, and whether a referral is needed
  • a service that provides culturally safe family violence support to Aboriginal people experiencing violence
  • a specialist service with expert knowledge of culturally, linguistically, and faith diverse communities, LGBTQI+ communities, or services that specialise in supporting women with a disability

Consent

Work with the person experiencing violence and seek their consent to share their information during a secondary consultation or when making a referral where possible. As per MARAM Practice Guide – Responsibility 5: Secondary consultation and referral, including for comprehensive family violence assessment and management response https://www.vic.gov.au/maram-practice-guides-and-resources/responsibility-5:

  • you can undertake a secondary consultation and seek guidance without sharing identifying information about the person experiencing violence
  • if you think a secondary consultation might lead to a referral and you will need to share identifying information – you should seek consent from the person experiencing violence prior to undertaking the secondary consultation
  • consent is not required to share information about a person using violence if it is shared according to the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme, or as authorised by other legislation
  • ideally a person experiencing violence will consent to you sharing information with another service, and when needed with police or child protection – however if they do not consent – the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme permits information sharing in certain situations.

Consent from a person experiencing violence is required to share information ‘…unless information sharing is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual’s life, health, safety or welfare…(and) …will not be required if a child’s safety is at risk…’ (Ministerial Guidelines – Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines – Guidance for Information Sharing Entities – https://www.vic.gov.au/family-violence-information-sharing-scheme).


For further advice and guidance about consent and information sharing, check your organisational policies, seek advice from your organisation, and see:

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