Course Details
Dates: Thursday 28 May 2026
Time: 9:30AM – 2:30PM (AWST)
Location: Microsoft Teams (interactive, with polls, chat, and group reflection through breakout rooms)
Cost: $289 per participant (includes GST)
Course Overview
This 5‑hour online workshop offers a focused, practice‑oriented learning experience for practitioners facilitating Men’s Behaviour Change groups or other groupwork programs with men who use family violence. Designed to strengthen confidence and capability, the workshop explores how to create an accountability‑focused group culture, manage resistance and disruption, and use structured activities that deepen reflection and responsibility.
Participants will examine the purpose and foundations of groupwork, including intake and pre‑group preparation, assessing readiness for participation, and establishing effective group agreements, boundaries, and norms. The session also provides practical strategies for facilitating respectful challenge and responding to complex group dynamics such as dominance, silence, deflection, grievance, and triangulation.
With an emphasis on safety, structure, and collaborative practice, the workshop supports facilitators to strengthen their co‑facilitation skills and apply group‑based interventions that promote meaningful behaviour change.
Who is this course suitable for?
This workshop is designed for practitioners who play a role in engaging, assessing, or facilitating work with men who use family violence. It is particularly relevant for:
- Practitioners working directly with men using family violence, including case managers, counsellors, group facilitators, and intake workers who need practical tools for managing group dynamics and supporting accountability.
- Team leaders, coordinators, and practice leads in family violence or community services who oversee group programs and want to strengthen facilitation capability within their teams.
- Organisations seeking to build specialist workforce capacity, especially those delivering or planning to deliver Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCPs) or related group interventions.
This workshop is suitable for both emerging facilitators and experienced practitioners wanting to refine their skills in managing complex group dynamics, fostering accountability, and maintaining safety in group settings.
Specialist trainer:
Tori Cooke
Tori Cooke brings deep specialist expertise, warmth, and real-world practice wisdom to this training. As Director of Pandora Projects, she has more than 25 years of clinical practice, governance, and senior management experience across Western Australia and Victoria. Tori is widely recognised for her work with both victim survivors and people using abuse and violence, and for her commitment to building workforce capability through practical, evidence-based training. Her approach combines strong family violence knowledge with reflective, applied learning that helps practitioners grow confidence and skill in complex practice.
What will you take from this course?
Through interactive discussions, scenario-based learning, and reflective activities, participants will deepen their understanding of:
- The purpose and structure of groupwork in men’s behaviour change, including how to prepare participants for group engagement.
- How to establish and maintain accountability-focused group culture, including group agreements, boundaries, and norms.
- Strategies for facilitating respectful challenge, supporting responsibility-taking, and interrupting narratives that minimise, deny, or justify violence.
- Approaches for responding to difficult group dynamics, including dominance, silence, deflection, grievance, and triangulation.
- Effective co-facilitation practices, including role clarity, modelling respectful communication, and maintaining safety and structure.
- Practical group-based intervention activities that deepen reflection, insight, and responsibility.
The workshop emphasises reflective practice, ethical considerations, and the importance of facilitator self-awareness when working with men who use family violence.
By the end of this workshop, participants will have strengthened their skills in:
By the end of this course, participants would have gained the skills on:
- Applying evidence based facilitation strategies that support safe and effective groupwork with men who use family violence.
- Engaging participants in ways that promote accountability, responsibility, and respectful challenge.
- Recognising and responding to resistance, disruption, and complex group behaviours.
- Maintaining group safety, structure, and focus, even in challenging moments.
- Using practical tools and activities that support behaviour change and reflective learning.
- Understanding professional responsibilities and ethical considerations in group facilitation.
- Building confidence and capability in real world groupwork situations.
- Applying self care strategies to manage the emotional demands of this work.
Note
A minimum of 90% attendance and Polls participation will be required for successful course completion.
Participants will be notified when their Certificate of Completion is ready to be accessed through their Student Portal.
If withdrawn 48 hours before the course date and time (AWST), the participant is eligible for a full refund, where this request can be made by emailing rto@communicare.org.au, otherwise, no refund is available.
Deferral to a future course may only be possible for extenuating circumstances.
