LGBTQIA+ communities experience family violence (FV) within a context of structural marginalisation, discrimination, and service systems that have historically been designed around heteronormative and binary understandings of relationships, violence, and family. While FV responses often rely on clear distinctions between victim-survivors and adults using violence, the lived experiences of many LGBTQIA+ people are frequently more complex. Individuals may be misidentified as perpetrators, use retaliatory force, experience abuse in one relationship while using violence in another, or navigate multiple dynamics simultaneously.

This presentation explores how Queerspace has developed integrated, wrap-around responses that move beyond binary service models to support the whole person and family. Grounded in intersectional, gendered, and Whole-of-Family frameworks, the session examines how traditional funding and service structures can struggle to respond to LGBTQIA+ and other marginalised communities, where experiences of violence, safety, accountability, and support may not fit neatly within single program categories.

Using the conceptual framework of a client journey, the presentation will follow how individuals and families move through assessment, engagement, risk management, and support pathways across multiple programs and service streams. The session will demonstrate how integrated responses can adapt as new information emerges, including instances of misidentification, dual experiences of victimisation and use of violence, and situations where multiple family members require different forms of support simultaneously.

While grounded in work with LGBTQIA+ communities, the presentation will also demonstrate how this approach is transferable to broader FV practice, particularly when working with other marginalised cohorts. The same drivers of discrimination, exclusion, systemic mistrust, and structural vulnerability that shape LGBTQIA+ experiences often influence how FV is experienced and responded to across diverse communities. By recognising the nuanced ways FV may be understood and experienced, practitioners can develop more effective interventions that better reflect the complexity of people's lives.