INDUSTRY LABS
Every industry has a role to play in responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence. Every response matters, and therefore the understanding of every industry matters.
Every industry can make a meaningful difference through their workplace responses and customer/client responses supporting thousands of employees and community members who may need access to information and to support. Informed by lived-experience insights, each industry can refine and evolve how they uplift ecosystem responses. We invite each industry to explore our Futures Framework participate in the Responders Lab, and to be listening to the lived experience insights published through Insight Exchange. We invite industries to be exploring, using and sharing the materials that support learning about and responding to violence and abuse.
On this Industry Lab page you can read about our support to specific industry areas - Hotels, Libraries, Clubs, Employee Assistance Programs. You can also read about other initiatives to support and uplift ecosystem responses such as Creating Conversations and the Listening Leaders Scholarship. Explore more about engagement in the insights and materials by reading the Insight Exchange Engagement Reports.
Hotels Lab 2023 - 2026 (now evolved into the Hotels and Tourism Lab)
We invited Hotel Associations, Hotel Groups and Independent Hotels to explore free (donated) Insight Exchange insights and materials to build on Hotels understanding of and responses to violence and abuse.
In FY24/25 & FY25/26 combined 332 people working in the Hotels industry participated in Creating Conversations Sessions (148 people in FY24/25 and 184 people in FY25/26). Participants worked in varied roles, for example: Food and Beverage, Hotel General Management, Head Chefs, Learning and Development, Security, Housekeeping Services, Accommodation Services, Engineers, Security, Duty Managers, Front desk, Reservation and Reception Services, Apartments and Reality, House Keeping Managers, Area/Cluster Management, Legal Counsel, Financial Controller, Hotel Performance, Sales and Hospitality Services, Executive Leaders, Safety and Diversity, Human Resources, Talent, People & Culture, Airline lounges, & Peak Bodies.
The Hotels Lab has now evolved into the Hotels and Tourism Lab
Libraries Lab 2024-2026 + Self-Service (ongoing)
The Libraries Lab is a self-service space that collates a selection of free (donated) insights and reflection materials to build on the understanding of and responses to violence and abuse through library spaces, services, collections and community engagement. On the Libraries Lab page you can explore:
- Why libraries matter
- A letter to librarians
- Many victim-survivors of violence and abuse are silent or silenced
- Ideas for action using insight-informed free (donated) materials
- More materials
Every week there are thousands of people visiting libraries - visiting in person and using digital information and loans online. In FY24/25 we established the Libraries Lab to build on understanding of and responses to violence and abuse. We invite you to read about who has engaged with the Libraries Lab in the Insight Exchange Engagement Reports.
Listening Leaders Scholarship FY24/25 & FY25/26
The Listening Leaders Scholarship was a one-off (non-recurring) scholarship to sustain and deepen the work of five leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to actively and ongoingly listen and respond to the needs of women who are silent about or silenced by violence and abuse.
The use of the funds is to sustain and deepen listening and responding to women (and children) who may otherwise be overlooked or undervalued by conventional service and system design. The scholarship was extended (with the same recipients) into FY25/26.
Listening Leaders Scholarship Recipients
The selected recipients work in initiatives that have national scope and are based in/from Australian registered charities. Each initiative has been forged in response to listening directly to the voices of women in community and has been established outside of conventional government grants.
Creating Conversations 2017 - 2026
Creating Conversations sessions are designed to create opportunities to participate in cross-sector conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence. The conversations draw from Insight Exchange insights and resources. Each session invites you to consider how your work (and our collective efforts) respond to people who are silent about, or silenced by, violence and abuse. There is no one preference or path for support. Every responder, community and industry matters.
The Creating Conversations page outlines sessions that have happened, what materials were in focus, and the range of sectors involved in the conversations. On the page you can read examples of responses from participants involved in Creating Conversations sessions in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Perth.
If you have a question about Creating Conversations sessions you are welcome to reach out via Contact Us.
No Hidden Door 2021 - 2022
No Hidden Door - an initiative designed to highlight the importance of auditing the ‘doors’ to information that are currently available to victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexualised violence. Explore the reports, collection and guidance.
Between October and December 2021, Insight Exchange audited 200+ websites from five industries as sample doors in the information and support ecosystem. The selection of industries is not exclusive or exhaustive.
Clubs Industry 2021-2024
Clubs are a connection point for many individuals and communities across Australia. The 2015 National Clubs Census estimated there are over 6,000 clubs in Australia, and more than 13m members, and 300m+ visits annually. The clubs industry has a significant role to play in responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence. The readiness and quality of Club responses to violence and abuse matter. Every Club. Any community.
One of our initiatives has been to proactively make information and reflection resources available to the Clubs industry. Drawing from extensive Clubs Industry experience, Arely Carrion has been instrumental in leading the following initiatives from Insight Exchange.
- Nov 2021 – Oct 2022 12M sabbatical to immerse full-time in and share from Insight Exchange. In the 12-month role we have met with 48 clubs representing a combined total of 113 venues, 9575 staff, and 1,939,220 members*. (*some members may be members at more than one club).
- Nov 2022 - Jun 2024 sharing Insight Exchange materials within the Clubs Industry. In this period Insight Exchange established and supported a small network of Clubs Industry employees to build on understanding of and responses to domestic, family and sexualised violence.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) 2021-2023
2021 - 2022 - A shared understanding is vital for coherent and reliable responses. The intersection of workplaces and EAPs is important as workplaces rely on EAPS to be informed and ready to respond as part of the response menu offered to employees. We supported a subset of EAPs in Australia and New Zealand in the following ways:
- Facilitating EAP Masterclasses
- No Hidden Door - EAP Industry data & Guidance: Website content and functions
- No Hidden Door - EAP customised reports per EAP
- Boxset of Insight Exchange resources per EAP Provider
- Facilitating a set of 3 EAP reflective practice sessions
- Speaking at the Employee Assistance Professional Association of Australasia (EAPAA) Virtual Wellness Day Aug 2022 & Annual Conference Nov 2022
2023 - In 2023 EAP individuals, teams and providers were invited to view the Foundations & Foundations Applied module.
2019/20 Network of workplaces and employee assistance programs
The network of workplaces and employee assistance programs (EAPs) was an informal, national network facilitated by Insight Exchange, through 2019/20. Participating organisations shared a commitment to improving awareness of and responses to domestic and family violence in Australia.
Participants in the network were interested in exploring the following challenges in responding to domestic and family violence (DFV):
- Understanding scope and duty of care of organisations; what role does the workplace and EAP play in responding to an individual experiencing DFV? What role could/should each of these play?
- Improving how organisations and EAPs support, not just what is offered in support of, people experiencing DFV.
- First-responder support - identifying and providing support for workplace managers and EAP practitioners responding to people experiencing DFV.
- Responding to people who use violence – how do organisations and EAPs respond to and support people using violence?
- Managing complexity including: privacy and confidentiality; understanding where organisations, and individuals within them, fit in the broader ecosystem; and negotiating EAP contracts.
Participants included: Access EAP, AGL Energy, Assure Programs, Commonwealth Bank, Converge International, CSIRO, Employee Assistance Professionals Association Australasia, QBE, PwC, Sydney Water, Tabcorp.
The Workplace Insights Paper hosted some reflection questions for workplaces and for EAPs.