Family and domestic violence practitioners across Western Australia are increasingly working across frameworks that inform different aspects of risk assessment, risk management and case practice.

Two of these are Western Australia’s Common Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (CRARMF) and the Safe & Together Model.

While the frameworks have different purposes and applications, there are important areas of alignment. Both support practice that keeps the person using violence visible, considers patterns of behaviour and their impact, and maintains a focus on the safety of adult and child victim-survivors.

For practitioners and organisations working across both, the task is to apply them consistently across assessment, analysis, documentation and ongoing risk management.

CRARMF in Western Australian FDV practice

CRARMF provides a common approach to family and domestic violence risk assessment and risk management across Western Australia. It establishes common practice standards for screening, risk assessment, risk management, information sharing and referral across specialist and mainstream services.

Risk assessment within CRARMF is not limited to identifying individual risk factors. It brings together the victim-survivor’s assessment of risk, evidence-based risk factors and professional judgement to inform the assessment of risk and the response required.

This is particularly important in family and domestic violence, where risk needs to be understood in the context of patterns of behaviour, coercive and controlling behaviours, changes in frequency or severity, and the circumstances of the victim-survivor and children.

Consistent application supports a shared understanding of risk across services. Clear assessment and documentation can assist practitioners and agencies to maintain continuity in risk identification and management as information moves across the service system.

DART Institute’s CRARMF training focuses on applying the framework in practice, including screening, risk assessment, professional judgement, documentation and risk management.

The Safe & Together Model

The Safe & Together Model provides a perpetrator pattern-based approach to working with families where domestic and family violence is present. A central element of the Model is keeping the behaviour of the person using violence visible in assessment, documentation and case practice.

This includes identifying patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour, examining how those behaviours affect children and family functioning, and recognising the protective efforts of the non-offending parent.

The language used in case notes, assessments and case discussions matters. Documentation that centres the circumstances or actions of the victim-survivor can obscure the behaviours creating risk and shift attention away from the person using violence.

Perpetrator pattern-based documentation makes the behaviour, its impacts and responsibility for it more visible.

DART delivers Safe & Together Model CORE training for practitioners, alongside training for supervisors supporting implementation and practice development within organisations.

Where CRARMF and Safe & Together align

CRARMF and the Safe & Together Model are not interchangeable. They have different functions and should be applied according to their respective purposes.

CRARMF provides a structured framework for identifying, assessing and managing risk. Safe & Together provides a perpetrator pattern-based approach to understanding and documenting the behaviours of the person using violence, their impacts on children and family functioning, and the protective efforts of the non-offending parent.

Applied alongside one another, the frameworks can support assessment and documentation that maintain visibility of both risk and the pattern of behaviour creating that risk.

This requires practitioners to consider which risk factors are present; how the person using violence is creating and increasing risk; how behaviours operate within a broader pattern of coercive control; how adult and child victim-survivors are affected; and what information needs to remain visible as a case moves across services.

Documentation across both frameworks

Documentation is a core part of family and domestic violence practice. How behaviour is recorded can make responsibility for violence visible or obscure it.

Pattern-based documentation identifies the person using violence as the actor, describes behaviours specifically and records their impacts. It also recognises the actions taken by victim-survivors to resist violence, protect children and increase safety.

Within risk assessment and risk management, this context is critical. A CRARMF assessment may identify indicators of increased risk; pattern-based documentation can show how those indicators operate within the broader pattern of coercive control and violence.

For practitioners working across CRARMF and Safe & Together, consistency means that risk assessment, case analysis and documentation should describe the same pattern of behaviour and risk rather than produce disconnected accounts of the same family.

Developing practice capability

Consistent application requires more than familiarity with a framework. Practitioners need opportunities to apply it to complex case material, test professional judgement, examine documentation and consider how assessment informs risk management and intervention.

This is particularly relevant as Western Australia continues to strengthen its whole-of-system response to family and domestic violence, including workforce capability, consistent risk practice and perpetrator accountability.

DART Institute provides training across CRARMF and the Safe & Together Model, including practice development focused on documentation and application within complex family and domestic violence casework.