This program remains subject to change. Speakers, workshops and much more are continuing to be added. The next update will be in December 2025. 

With 16 parallel sessions and a plenary session to open and close each day, delegates will hear from those leading prevention work across systems and settings, in their communities, and workplaces.  

Day one we will look at storytelling as a prevention skill we use in our work,  

Day two will dive deeper into stories from prevention in practice  

Explore the draft program below. This program is current as at 10 Nov 2025. 

START TIME	SESSION
8:00 – 9:30am	Registration opens
9:30 – 9:45am	Welcome to Country
9:50 – 9:55am	Conference opening – Safe and Equal CEO
9:55 – 10:00am	Ministerial Welcome – Victorian Government (Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence)
10:00 – 10:10am	Setting the scene – Marina Carman, Executive Director Prevention, Advocacy and Social Change
10:10 – 11:15am	Opening Plenary (livestreamed) First Nations Storytelling Panel Speakers: Regan Mitchell, Our Watch
11:15 – 11:45am	Morning tea
11:45am – 1:00pm	Parallel 1	Parallel 2	Parallel 3	Parallel 4
	What is a storytelling approach and why does it matter for prevention practice?	GenWest Voices of Change: Stories of Community-Led Prevention, by the Community, for the Community	To be announced	Centre for Multicultural Youth Youth-Led Change: The Speak Up Program and the Future of Inclusive Family Violence Prevention
		WHISE Culture, Connection, and Change: Migrant Women Leading Prevention through Storytelling		Our Watch Changing the story for young people: complementary and reinforcing prevention approaches where young people learn, play and engage
		Pronia Stories for Change in Multicultural Communities: Prevention Across Generations		Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights Navigating Halal and Haram: Conversations on relationships, consent and safety with young Muslim women
1:00 – 2:00pm	Lunch (including optional PiP Connect for online audience)
2:00 – 3:15pm	Parallel 5	Parallel 6	Parallel 7	Parallel 8
	Multicultural Centre for Womens Health Amplifying Bilingual Voices: Investing in a Critical Workforce for Community-Led Prevention	Zoe Belle Gender Collective Stories from the front line: The trans women transforming the prevention sector	Respect Victoria Collect once, use often: Insights from secondary analysis of National Community Attitudes Survey (NCAS) data from Victoria	Municipal Association of Victoria The future is local
	Our Watch Strong Foundations, Strong Futures: Sustaining Primary Prevention Effort		Our Watch Sharing stories of change: monitoring population-level progress in primary prevention
	Domestic Violence NSW The NSW Primary Prevention Collaboration- A NSW story of primary prevention practice, advocacy and growth		Jesuit Social Services (The Men’s Project) Unpacking the Adolescent Man Box Research and Practice Implications
3:15 – 3:45pm	Afternoon tea
3:45 – 4:45pm	Closing Plenary (livestreamed) Informing policy making: how and when do stories matter? Moderator: Tania Farha, InTouch Speakers: – Hon. Ged Kearney, Commonwealth Assistant Minister for Social Services and Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence – Micaela Cronin, Commonwealth Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner – Moo Baulch, Our Watch and WAGEC – Michelle Reddy, Pacific Feminist Fund

START TIME	SESSION
9:15 – 9:30am	Welcome to Country
9:30 – 10:45am	Day 2 – Opening Plenary (livestreamed) Advancing gender transformative practice Moderator: Amelia Ditcham, Safe and Equal Speakers: – Steve Roberts, Monash University – Starlady, Zoe Belle Gender Collective
10:45 – 11:15am	Morning tea
11:15am – 12:30pm	Parallel 9	Parallel 10	Parallel 11	Parallel 12
	RMIT It began in the West …. almost a decade of adaptation, the story of Working Together with Men	Victorian Department of Education Stories from the frontline of RRE – School stories: Respectful Relationships	Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre Why Sport? The Respect Starts Here Story	FVREE Gender Equity in the Early Years – Engaging Parents, Educators, and Children through Storytelling
			Crash the Boards Primary Prevention in Sport – Crash the Boards	Women’s Health Loddon Mallee Raise Them Equal- Gender in the Early Years
			Rainbow Health Australia Connecting the dots between homophobia, misogyny and transphobia through a focus on sport and masculinities	Health ability Stories of Systems Change: Baby Makes 3 in Action
				Better Health Network Moving beyond neutral – aligning practice with the story you want to tell about gender equity in the early years
12:30 – 1:30pm	Lunch
1:30 – 2:45pm	Parallel 13	Parallel 14	Parallel 15	Parallel 16
	Respect Victoria More than a setting: primary prevention and digital lives	Restorative Yarns Safety, Acceptance, Identity on Country	RMIT The Story In-Between: Centering Survivors in Primary Prevention Work	Women’s Health Goulburn Northeast Prevention in Response: Bridging the Gap to Embed Prevention in Everyday Practice
			Women’s Health Grampians Living expertise as a primary prevention tool: the Intersectionality Workbook and its practical applications	Centre for Non-Violence Frontline Services – the missing link in prevention!
			SAFV Centre Shame to Safety: Stories That Prevent Family Violence
2:45 – 3:15pm	Afternoon tea
3:15 – 4:35pm	Prevention Pitches (livestreamed) and networking
4:30 – 5:30pm	Post-conference Drinks

The conference in 2026 will be held face-to-face in Melbourne, with online components. We are inviting abstracts for parallel sessions to be delivered as a part of the face-to-face conference.  

PreventX: Stories for Change is about sharing the stories of primary prevention and how storytelling is a powerful and effective way of creating and demonstrating change. Storytelling is also a useful way to connect with people and Country. First Nations communities are the original storytellers in so-called Australia. Stories for Change is about recognising and celebrating the range of ways in which primary prevention is practiced and inspiring the future. Equally, it is about surfacing the stories of change that need to be shared and understood from a range of views and experiences. Through the art of storytelling, PreventX will tell us about the people, places and processes that are at the core of primary prevention.