Workplaces as Prevention Settings: Scaling Impact Through Accreditation
Tracks
Ballroom 3: In-Person Only
| Wednesday, November 25, 2026 |
| 8:55 AM - 9:15 AM |
| Ballroom 3 |
Overview
Laurie Arrowsmith, White Ribbon Australia
Three Key Learnings
1. Workplaces as powerful prevention settings: Delegates will understand how workplaces can move beyond policy compliance to become active sites of primary prevention and early intervention, using a whole-of-organisation approach that addresses the drivers of domestic and family violence, supports affected employees, and promotes bystander action.
2. What drives sustainable cultural change: The session will highlight the key elements required for meaningful and lasting impact, including leadership accountability, workforce capability building, and embedding gender equality into everyday business practices, supported by insights from implementation and evaluation.
3. Evolving, evidence-informed practice: Delegates will gain insight into how the enhanced 2026–2027 Workplace Accreditation Program integrates intersectional research and workplace feedback to remain relevant, scalable, and effective across diverse industries, strengthening its contribution to system-wide prevention and response efforts.
Speaker
Ms Laurie Arrowsmith
Workplace Accreditation Program Lead
White Ribbon Australia
Workplaces as Prevention Settings: Scaling Impact Through Accreditation
Presentation Overview
This presentation explores White Ribbon Australia’s Workplace Accreditation Program as a promising, evidence-informed approach to preventing and responding to domestic and family violence through organisational and cultural change. Grounded in a gender-transformative and public health framework, the program partners with employers to embed gender equality, respectful relationships, and safe workplace practices across policies, leadership, and everyday behaviours.
Workplaces are a critical yet underutilised setting for primary prevention and early intervention, with the capacity to influence attitudes, support affected employees, and reach individuals beyond traditional service systems. The Accreditation Program adopts a whole-of-organisation model, engaging leadership, staff, and systems to address the drivers of violence, promote bystander action, and strengthen responses to disclosures.
In 2026–2027, White Ribbon is launching an enhanced version of the program, informed by intersectional research and extensive workplace feedback. This evolution strengthens the program’s ability to address diverse experiences of violence and inequality, ensuring greater relevance across industries, workforce types, and communities. It also introduces refined tools, guidance, and evaluation measures to support deeper, more sustainable implementation.
Drawing on implementation insights and emerging evaluation findings, this session highlights how accreditation processes drive cultural change at scale. It examines key enablers, including leadership accountability, workforce capability, and integration into core business practices.
The presentation will also consider challenges and opportunities in scaling workplace-based prevention, particularly in engaging men, addressing resistance, and aligning with broader community and policy frameworks.
By situating workplaces within a whole-of-community response, this session demonstrates how employer-led initiatives can contribute to population-level change and long-term, system-wide impact.
Notably, this program is currently the only national workplace accreditation initiative of its kind in Australia focused specifically on preventing domestic and family violence at an organisational level. It helps organisations meet certain regulatory requirements, while strengthening culture, wellbeing, and organisation-wide systems and practices that prevent violence.
Workplaces are a critical yet underutilised setting for primary prevention and early intervention, with the capacity to influence attitudes, support affected employees, and reach individuals beyond traditional service systems. The Accreditation Program adopts a whole-of-organisation model, engaging leadership, staff, and systems to address the drivers of violence, promote bystander action, and strengthen responses to disclosures.
In 2026–2027, White Ribbon is launching an enhanced version of the program, informed by intersectional research and extensive workplace feedback. This evolution strengthens the program’s ability to address diverse experiences of violence and inequality, ensuring greater relevance across industries, workforce types, and communities. It also introduces refined tools, guidance, and evaluation measures to support deeper, more sustainable implementation.
Drawing on implementation insights and emerging evaluation findings, this session highlights how accreditation processes drive cultural change at scale. It examines key enablers, including leadership accountability, workforce capability, and integration into core business practices.
The presentation will also consider challenges and opportunities in scaling workplace-based prevention, particularly in engaging men, addressing resistance, and aligning with broader community and policy frameworks.
By situating workplaces within a whole-of-community response, this session demonstrates how employer-led initiatives can contribute to population-level change and long-term, system-wide impact.
Notably, this program is currently the only national workplace accreditation initiative of its kind in Australia focused specifically on preventing domestic and family violence at an organisational level. It helps organisations meet certain regulatory requirements, while strengthening culture, wellbeing, and organisation-wide systems and practices that prevent violence.
Biography
Laurie Arrowsmith is a family and domestic violence expert with over a decade of experience at White Ribbon Australia. As Accreditation Program Lead, she oversees the Workplace Accreditation Program, partnering with employers to strengthen their policies, procedures, and workplace culture in support of women’s safety and gender equality.
Laurie has frontline experience working with both persons using and persons experiencing violence, including facilitating Men’s Behaviour Change Programs, working with fathers who use violence, and providing counselling. She has also developed programs for women experiencing violence. An experienced facilitator, Laurie delivers training and presentations on family violence and gender equality.
