The Help Seeking Gap: Creating Better Pathways to Safety for Children and Young People Experiencing or Using Violence
Tracks
Ballroom 1: In-Person & Online
Ballroom 2: In-Person Only
Ballroom 3: In-Person Only
Ballroom 4: In-Person Only
| Tuesday, November 24, 2026 |
| 4:40 PM - 5:10 PM |
| Ballroom 1, 2, 3 & 4 |
Overview
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor, Monash University and Matt Tyler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Monash University
Speaker
Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon
Founder and Principal Consultant
Sequre Consulting
The Help Seeking Gap: Creating Better Pathways to Safety for Children and Young People Experiencing or Using Violence
Presentation Overview
In Australia today, the scale of child victimisation dwarfs the current service system response. Within this, there are numerous gaps in efforts to promote and support the help seeking needs of children and young people experiencing or using violence. Capacity to seek help in the first instance is low, and, even when young victim-survivors do seek formal or informal support, research reveals they receive little or no meaningful response. Further, too often, opportunities are being missed to intervene early with young people at risk of using violence.
In this presentation, Matt Tyler and Kate Fitz-Gibbon will explore opportunities to promote and better respond to help seeking among children and young people both as it relates to their own victimisation as well as their use of family and sexual violence. Drawing on nationally representative surveys and interviews with children and young people, the presentation will share findings related to how children and young people are currently seeking help, the responses they receive, what more they are seeking and knowledge gaps that must be addressed if we are to make progress on addressing child victimisation in Australia. Implications for early intervention as well as healing and recovery will be examined with relevance for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
In this presentation, Matt Tyler and Kate Fitz-Gibbon will explore opportunities to promote and better respond to help seeking among children and young people both as it relates to their own victimisation as well as their use of family and sexual violence. Drawing on nationally representative surveys and interviews with children and young people, the presentation will share findings related to how children and young people are currently seeking help, the responses they receive, what more they are seeking and knowledge gaps that must be addressed if we are to make progress on addressing child victimisation in Australia. Implications for early intervention as well as healing and recovery will be examined with relevance for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
Biography
Kate Fitz-Gibbon is an internationally recognised expert in violence against women and children. She is a Professor (Practice) with the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University and an Honorary Professorial Fellow with the Melbourne Law School. Kate's research examines system responses to domestic, family and sexual violence, child victimisation, interventions for people who use violence, and the impacts of policy and practice reform in Australia and internationally. Her research has shaped policy and law reform at the state and national levels, has been published in 8 books and over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has been cited by the High Court of Australia.
Mr Matt Tyler
Executive Director
The Men’s Project, Jesuit Social Services
The help seeking gap: Creating better pathways to safety for children and young people experiencing or using violence
Presentation Overview
In Australia today, the scale of child victimisation dwarfs the current service system response. Within this, there are numerous gaps in efforts to promote and support the help seeking needs of children and young people experiencing or using violence. Capacity to seek help in the first instance is low, and, even when young victim-survivors do seek formal or informal support, research reveals they receive little or no meaningful response. Further, too often, opportunities are being missed to intervene early with young people at risk of using violence.
In this presentation, Matt Tyler and Kate Fitz-Gibbon will explore opportunities to promote and better respond to help seeking among children and young people both as it relates to their own victimisation as well as their use of family and sexual violence. Drawing on nationally representative surveys and interviews with children and young people, the presentation will share findings related to how children and young people are currently seeking help, the responses they receive, what more they are seeking and knowledge gaps that must be addressed if we are to make progress on addressing child victimisation in Australia. Implications for early intervention as well as healing and recovery will be examined with relevance for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
In this presentation, Matt Tyler and Kate Fitz-Gibbon will explore opportunities to promote and better respond to help seeking among children and young people both as it relates to their own victimisation as well as their use of family and sexual violence. Drawing on nationally representative surveys and interviews with children and young people, the presentation will share findings related to how children and young people are currently seeking help, the responses they receive, what more they are seeking and knowledge gaps that must be addressed if we are to make progress on addressing child victimisation in Australia. Implications for early intervention as well as healing and recovery will be examined with relevance for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
Biography
Matt Tyler has completed internationally significant research and groundbreaking program delivery related to preventing men's violence, addressing child sexual abuse and improving outcomes for children and young people. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University and member of Childlight’s East Asia & Pacific Hub Board at the UNSW.
He has traversed diverse worlds – improving child protection practice in the United States with Harvard’s Government Performance Lab, engaging with young Indigenous men in the Kimberley to improve health outcomes, and driving change at a grassroots level as a local Mayor in Melbourne’s West. Most recently, during seven years on the Jesuit Social Services Executive team and as lead of The Men's Project, he was responsible for leading the establishment and implementation of programs working with adolescents who are at-risk of harming others, many of whom had been victims of violence themselves. He also contributed to nationally leading research, including Australia's first study of child sexual abuse perpetration, and established Australia's first helpline for adults at risk of sexual abusing a child - Stop it Now! Australia.
