This document strongly incorporates experiential knowledge from victim survivors who contribute through statewide advisory groups, policy feedback, lived and living experience (LLE) roles, and direct service feedback to the Chief Psychiatrist's Office. It acknowledges those lost to family violence and emphasizes that LLE staff are highly likely to receive disclosures due to trusting relationships with consumers. The framework explicitly centers victim survivor agency and decision-making participation throughout risk assessment and management processes.
Implementing the family violence MARAM framework in mental health and wellbeing services
Overview
This Chief Psychiatrist's guideline details implementing Victoria's MARAM Framework in mental health services to address family violence. It outlines executive responsibilities, medical staff duties, specialist advisor roles, training requirements, documentation practices, and information sharing protocols. The framework aims to increase safety for victim survivors while holding perpetrators accountable through systematic risk assessment.
Key insights
Key insights are:
- MARAM Framework is legally mandated for designated mental health services
- Family violence significantly increases mental illness and suicide risk factors
- Medical staff must lead organizational MARAM implementation and clinical responses
- Specialist Family Violence Advisors provide essential capacity building and consultation
- Information sharing schemes enable coordinated responses while protecting victim safety
- Mental illness can be weaponized as coercive control tactic
- Documentation must use MARAM language and consider safety implications
- Training requirements span all staff levels with ongoing professional development
Did this resource draw on transformative evidence?
This document extensively draws on practice wisdom from mental health and family violence professionals. It incorporates clinical expertise through specialist family violence advisors, Family Violence Champions, medical staff leadership, and cross-sector collaboration. The guidance includes practical implementation structures, clinical review processes, documentation examples, and reflective practice opportunities. It emphasizes secondary consultation, supervision models, and community of practice approaches, demonstrating accumulated professional knowledge from frontline practitioners working at the intersection of mental health and family violence.
This document is grounded in research and evaluation evidence, citing specific studies showing family violence victims are 2.8 times more likely to experience mental illness and 3.2 times more likely to have major depression. It references Victorian research linking one-third of suicides to family violence, draws from MARAM's 5-year evaluation findings (noting tick-box assessment concerns), and incorporates evidence-based risk factors. The framework explicitly uses "evidence-based" risk assessment tools and structured professional judgment approaches.