Breaking the cycle: Trial integrated response to domestic and family violence in Rockhampton. Client experiences and outcomes

The need for systems working together effectively in responding to intimate partner abuse has been recognised for more than two decades, and various models of co-operative, collaborative, co-ordinated and integrated criminal justice and service system responses have emerged. At the core of such models is the belief that because the nature of domestic violence is complex and recurring, it requires a response that is comprehensive, co-ordinated and meaningfully engages community and government service providers (Spohn 2008). Since the mid-1990s there have been numerous developments in Australia, at local and jurisdictional level, towards co-ordinated or integrated responses to domestic violence. Within the context of its whole-of-Government strategy to reduce domestic and family violence (“For our sons and daughters” 2009-2014), the Queensland Government (under the leadership of the Department of Communities) has been trialling an integrated response to domestic and family violence in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, known as “Breaking the Cycle” (BTC). This integrated service delivery model aims to: improve the safety and well-being of people affected by domestic and family violence; reduce the demand on the current service systems (statutory, courts, human services); increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the human and justice service systems in responding to domestic and family violence; and build the skills of service providers to increase their ability to provide the best possible services to clients and break down the barriers to integrated working