Presentation To Be Announced Soon
Tracks
Ballroom 3: In-Person Only
| Wednesday, November 25, 2026 |
| 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM |
| Ballroom 3 |
Speaker
Dr Kellie Mcglynn
Senior Lecturer
Deakin University IC Building SoE
The Second Violence: When Systems Reproduce Harm After Family Violence Disclosure
Presentation Overview
When a person experiencing family and domestic violence asks for help, the first institutional response can shape what happens next. It can support safety, trust and recovery, or it can leave a survivor feeling dismissed, disbelieved, delayed or further burdened.
Drawing on my recent open access article in Public Health in Practice, this presentation introduces the concept of “the second violence” to name the further harm that can occur after disclosure, when systems designed to protect people reproduce fear, procedural burden or loss of safety. The presentation argues that police responses to family and domestic violence should be understood not only as legal or procedural encounters, but as public health issues because they can affect survivor wellbeing, help-seeking and trust in systems.
This is not an argument about individual blame. It is a systems-focused analysis of how rules, routines, cultures, thresholds and professional practices shape what happens to survivors in moments of vulnerability. Using a survivor-led and trauma-informed lens, the presentation considers how first response can become a critical point for systems transformation.
The presentation will offer practical implications for policy and practice, including the need to reduce repeated retelling, strengthen warm referral pathways, prioritise safety and recognition in the first minutes of response, and evaluate family violence systems not only by whether procedures are followed, but by whether survivors are made safer.
The central question is: how can systems be redesigned so that first response interrupts harm rather than reproduces it?
Drawing on my recent open access article in Public Health in Practice, this presentation introduces the concept of “the second violence” to name the further harm that can occur after disclosure, when systems designed to protect people reproduce fear, procedural burden or loss of safety. The presentation argues that police responses to family and domestic violence should be understood not only as legal or procedural encounters, but as public health issues because they can affect survivor wellbeing, help-seeking and trust in systems.
This is not an argument about individual blame. It is a systems-focused analysis of how rules, routines, cultures, thresholds and professional practices shape what happens to survivors in moments of vulnerability. Using a survivor-led and trauma-informed lens, the presentation considers how first response can become a critical point for systems transformation.
The presentation will offer practical implications for policy and practice, including the need to reduce repeated retelling, strengthen warm referral pathways, prioritise safety and recognition in the first minutes of response, and evaluate family violence systems not only by whether procedures are followed, but by whether survivors are made safer.
The central question is: how can systems be redesigned so that first response interrupts harm rather than reproduces it?
Biography
Dr Kellie McGlynn is a Lecturer in the School of Education at Deakin University. Her research examines systems, trauma-informed practice, institutional change and lived experience, with a focus on how services respond to people in moments of vulnerability. Kellie’s work draws on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, feminist autoethnography and systems approaches to understand how institutional practices can reproduce or interrupt harm. Her current research program, The Second Violence, explores family and domestic violence response, first response, survivor safety and public health. Her recent article in Public Health in Practice introduces the concept of “the second violence.”
