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Meet the team: Chrissie Keynes

Chrissie has worked in education for 17 years and in many different settings from early childhood through to adult education. Her main love is connecting with people and inspiring others to discover the power they have to make positive change in their lives and the lives of others. Chrissie has always been passionate about mental health and wellbeing which led her to retrain as a counsellor where she am able to tap into her passion for wellbeing in all areas of mental health. ...

Meet the team: Trent Larkman

Trent, who is based in Sydney, is a specialist violence prevention and response training practitioner. He is a registered Social Worker and has a background in men’s family violence counselling and community engagement. Trent combines his passion for engaged pedagogy with his experience of working with men who use family violence to deliver collaborative, engaging and insightful training sessions to build on people’s confidence and skills to reflect on themselves and create change in their e...

Meet the team: Tamara Pallos

Tamara originally trained as a lawyer but retrained as a counsellor after realising that her keenest interests lay in promoting wellbeing.  She has a track record of working in the domestic and family violence field.  As a counsellor, she spent many years doing frontline work with both domestic and family violence victim-survivors and perpetrators.  She has also held policy and advocacy roles related to domestic and family violence, most recently as the Sector Development Manager ...

Challenge DV becomes White Ribbon Australia approved training partner

Challenge DV is pleased to announce that it is an Approved Training Partner for White Ribbon Australia. Through this partnership, workplaces across Australia who are undertaking the White Ribbon Australia Workplaces Accreditation Program can take part in a Challenge DV workplace program to support their accreditation. Challenge DV is currently one of three providers nationally who are approved to deliver this training. Sian Fullerton, Challenge DV’s Workplace Programs Manager, said: “Domest...

Making every step count to end domestic and family violence through Darkness to Daylight

Darkness to Daylight is Challenge DV’s community education, awareness and fundraising event for domestic and family violence prevention. It is a 110km challenge, with each kilometre symbolising a life lost through domestic and family violence in Australia in the year the event launched. The event was developed by Robert Reed OAM, Special Counsel at MinterEllison. Following a life-changing trip to participate in the American Indian Movement's Sacred Run held in Japan in 1995, Rob developed the...

Supporting women fleeing domestic and family violence to access information in their own language

Women who are fleeing domestic and family violence can more easily find information they need about refuges in their own language, thanks to a new guide. Challenge DV has partnered with the Combined Women’s Refuge Group of South East Queensland (CWRG SEQ) to develop the short guide, which outlines information about Queensland refuges for women considering fleeing domestic and family violence, translated into 15 languages. CWRG is the peak body representing the domestic and family violence refu...

Connecting Queensland’s diverse communities to end domestic and family violence

Over 80 leaders from across Queensland’s multicultural communities, together with domestic and violence service providers, gathered at a special event in May 2022 to explore ways to end domestic and family violence together. Dr Faiza El-Higzi OAM, a member of the Queensland Government’s Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council was the Master of Ceremonies for the event, and featured talks from MinterEllison, Challenge DV, Micah Projects’ Brisbane Domestic Violence Service, the Refug...

Playing our part to end domestic and family violence

We partnered with the Champions of Change Coalition, No to Violence, Our Watch, The Full Stop Foundation, UNSW Gendered Violence Research Network and WESNET to release a framework with practical actions and resources for organisations to advance their approach to the prevention and response to domestic and family violence in the workplace. Playing Our Part: a Framework for Workplace Action on Domestic and family Violence is the fourth collaborative report to be published by the Champio...

Delivering trauma training to frontline First Nations domestic and family violence services

In 2021, the QBE Foundation partnered with Challenge DV to ensure that frontline domestic and family violence service workers who worked in First Nations communities in Far North Queensland received essential training to support those who have experienced trauma. Following sector consultation, Challenge DV identified that many of the domestic and family violence frontline service workers based in Far North Queensland and First Nations communities had not received any trauma training as part of t...

Connecting workplaces with frontline domestic and family violence services

Challenge DV's partnerships connect workplaces directly with frontline domestic and family violence services to support them where they need it most, in this case with Chisholm. Chisholm is a womens refuge, which has an amazing team who work tirelessly to support the courageous women - and their children - who are leaving domestic and family violence situations to get back on their feet. We are proud to connect them with the Brisbane Taylor Bridge and Brookfield Rotary Clubs through our partne...