Years of research, collaboration and advocacy have informed the Safe at Home model. It was co-designed by a team of experts including victim-survivors of family violence and homelessness, frontline workers and men who had previously used violence.
In May 2024, the Victorian Government announced over $6 million in funding support for McAuley Community Services for Women (‘McAuley’) to implement a three-year Safe at Home trial in Geelong. This funding was secured by McAuley after years of advocacy for a Safe at Home early intervention model that would allow women and children to remain safely in their homes while wrapping support services around the whole household.
The Safe at Home pilot officially launched in March 2025 and will run for three years in the Barwon region of Victoria. McAuley is the lead agency and has partnered with Meli and other key organisations throughout the Barwon region to deliver the program.
Evidence gathered through The SHEBA Project has been vital for developing the Safe at Home model. The SHEBA project (Safe at Home, Experiences, Barriers and Access) drew on a strong partnership between researchers (The University of Melbourne and University of NSW), Victorian community sector organisations providing family violence services (McAuley, Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand, In-Touch, Centre of Non-Violence) and women with lived experience (The Weavers) to understand the effectiveness of personal safety initiatives and other strategies to keep women and their children safely in their homes.
The perspectives of women with lived experience were integral to the SHEBA project, as were the views of practitioners and policy workers with the knowledge to inform policy and practice to strengthen the current Victorian response. The voices of women from minority cohorts experiencing compounding issues of discrimination were especially important. Researchers also considered how safe at home responses can be provided during times of disaster and emergencies.
The findings and recommendations of The SHEBA Project are available to access here.