Primary prevention communities of practice
Communities of Practice (CoPs) are a successful and sought-after mechanism to improve the capability and wellbeing of practitioners working in primary prevention.
Safe and Equal’s primary prevention CoPs bring together those working in primary prevention to explore challenges and opportunities, strengthen policy and practice, and build the capabilities and connections with others working in prevention.
CoPs are established with the aim of creating a space for prevention practitioners to exchange knowledge, resources and ideas, and build rich relationships. Through peer learning and expert facilitation, we enable opportunities for personal growth and practical skill development. You can learn more about our approach to CoPs through our resource, Learning Together.
In 2025-2026, we are offering four free CoPs to primarily Victorian-based practitioners. Interstate or overseas practitioners are welcome to apply, but depending on demand, priority will be given to Victorian based practitioners. Applications close 21 July 2025.
Each CoP consists of a maximum of 20 practitioners, and will run over eight sessions, once per month. All of our CoPs are delivered online, with the potential for some hybrid CoPs offerings toward the end of 2025, and the beginning of 2026. CoPs will be held between August 2025 to May 2025 with a break over summer holidays.
The availability of our CoPs is made possible with funding from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and Department of Education through the Statewide prevention workforce development program. You can learn more about the 2023-24 program in our summary report found here.
Communities of Practice
Emerging Practitioners CoP
Joining the primary prevention workforce is an exciting opportunity that opens the door to a whole new world of practice—with opportunities to explore diverse theories and frameworks, build relationships with colleagues across a wide range of settings, and pick up plenty of new terminology along the way! It’s essential that emerging practitioners feel supported and connected in their work and are given a space to test new ideas and ways of thinking.
This CoP provides a unique opportunity for emerging primary prevention practitioners who are learning and growing in their roles, to reinforce the foundations of prevention practice and share new ways of working. In a professionally facilitated environment, the CoP provides opportunities to share knowledge and work through challenges and opportunities that arise in early career development. Participation in this community will build confidence, and support key knowledge and skills for effectively participating in the primary prevention sector. Dates for this CoP are:
Tuesdays 10am-12pm
- 26 August 2025
- 16 September 2025
- 14 October 2025
- 11 November 2025
- 10 February 2026
- 3 March 2026
- 31 March 2026
- 28 April 2026
Respectful Relationships Education and Working With Children and Young People CoP
School-based and community prevention programs offer children and young people the opportunity to explore and learn about consent, relationships, and gender equality. Embedding cultures of respect and equality in the places and spaces where children and young people live, learn, rest and play is essential for the wellbeing of children and young people now, and into the future. Programs such Respect Relationships Education (RRE) and community-based programs, working with children and young people alongside schools and the delivery of RRE, are key primary prevention initiatives in Victoria. It is crucial the workforce behind these initiatives is given opportunities to connect in a space to share wisdom, celebrate, and discover new and exciting ways to transform their work. This CoP will bring together practitioners supporting the delivery of RRE and those who are working with children and young people in school and community-based prevention settings. It will foster shared learning around good practices for engaging with children and young people.
Join Safe and Equal’s RRE and Working with Children and Young People CoP to exchange knowledge, resources and ideas, and extend your connections with those working in primary prevention. This CoP will bring together school-and community-based prevention practitioners across Victoria, with a key focus (but not limited to) the delivery of RRE. Dates for this CoP are:
Wednesdays 10am-12pm
- 20 August 2025
- 10 September 2025
- 15 October 2025
- 12 November 2025
- 4 February 2026
- 4 March 2026
- 1 April 2026
- 29 April 2026
Partnerships In Primary Prevention CoP
Effective primary prevention is built on strong, equitable partnerships. The Partnerships in Primary Prevention CoP provides a collaborative space for practitioners to reflect on how to build, maintain, and lead meaningful partnerships—partnerships grounded in trust, shared values, mutual benefit, and the ability to navigate difference. This CoP supports practitioners across diverse sectors, communities, and settings to strengthen their collaboration and collective efforts to prevent gender-based violence.
Whether you’re navigating cross-sector collaboration, or negotiating the challenges of partnership dynamics, this CoP is a space to reflect, learn and grow your practice. Together, we’ll explore how to strengthen partnership processes and outcomes for lasting and impactful change. Come as you are or join this CoP with your partner to engage in shared learning together! Dates for this CoP are:
Thursdays 1pm-3pm
- 28 August 2025
- 18 September 2025
- 16 October 2025
- 13 November 2025
- 5 February 2026
- 5 March 2026
- 2 April 2026
- 30 April 2026
Regional and Remote CoP
Regional and rural practitioners are experts in relationship building, responding to resistance, and translating evidence into practice. They can also experience unique challenges, like managing the impacts of disaster recovery.
This CoP provides a distinct opportunity for prevention practitioners that work in regional and remote prevention settings to routinely come together to share knowledge and learnings specific to their context. In a professionally facilitated environment, the Regional and Rural CoP will work to provide opportunities for knowledge sharing, identifying and working through shared challenges, and opportunities that arise specifically from prevention activity in regional areas. Participation in this CoP will build confidence, collegiality and leverage the prevention skills and knowledge in regional prevention work. Regionally based practitioners are welcome to apply for any of our CoPs, however, this one will provide a space to network across the regions and share practice insights specific to working in regional and remote Victoria. Dates for this CoP are:
Tuesdays 1pm-3pm
- 19 August 2025
- 9 September 2025
- 14 October 2025
- 11 November 2025
- 3 February 2026
- 3 March 2026
- 31 March 2026
- 28 April 2026
Mid to Senior CoP (ongoing)
This CoP provides a unique opportunity for practitioners who are established in their prevention careers and are looking to build their networks and hone skills in practice and leadership. In a professionally facilitated environment, this CoP provides opportunities for knowledge transfer and identifying and working through shared challenges and opportunities. Participation in this community will build skills and leadership capabilities necessary for creating impactful prevention initiatives, and initiating organisational change.
This is an ongoing CoP, with an established cohort for 2025, however, please do complete an EOI if you’re interested in the CoP, and should a vacancy arise, or a new cohort commence, we will be in touch!
Our ethos to CoP delivery
Since 2021, Safe and Equal have convened CoPs purely online. We continue to receive positive feedback from participants about these online forums, the accessibility for a busy workforce being able to participate online, and the meaningful spaces we are able to create. We also continue to hear, particularly for those with caring arrangements and working in rural or remote areas, that online continues to be beneficial.
However, we are increasingly receiving feedback that face-to-face would also be valuable. A key part of Safe and Equal’s ethos to CoPs is the formation and holding of space in line with a Group Agreement, and agility to be driven by the group’s needs and interests. This agreement is determined with each group and underscores how the CoP is convened so that the group is as enabling as it can be. Considerations around format, including the option of face-to-face and hybrid CoPs, is something that will be explored in the 2025/2026 CoP series, and we hope to be able to convene some hybrid CoP sessions.
We know that practitioner time is precious, and finding time in your schedule for reflective practice based personal development is challenging. If you need to provide information to your organisation or management to attend a CoP, please feel free to download our CoP Information Sheet for organisations here, and send it to your manager. It contains information relating to our CoP model, the benefit of attendance for practitioners and for their organisations more broadly.
Participant selection criteria
We know how important reflective practice and time can be for a busy workforce. We take the selection and review of applicants seriously and review all with the utmost care. We are also committed to building inclusive CoPs that enable participation from a diversity of organisations and people interested in spaces for reflective practice.
Applications are assessed based on several factors which includes:
- An applicant ranking based on their responses to the EOI questions. Selection is based on a rating system that considers both relevance to the CoP and representation across diverse sectors, settings, and communities.
- Prioritising Victorian-based primary prevention practitioners, especially those working directly in prevention or in intersecting fields. While applicants from response sectors will be considered, they must clearly demonstrate how their work aligns with prevention.
- Preference is given to those who identify with priority cohorts, but strong alignment with the CoP focus is essential.
- Final selection also considers group cohesion and balance across sectors, organisations and regions.
- Incomplete applications will be deprioritised.
- Applicants must be able to commit to attending at least 6 of the 8 sessions and have the support of their organisation or manager to participate.
Whilst our CoP model encourages learning and sharing across the prevention sector, and encourages participants to share about their work in prevention, the main purpose of attending a CoP should not be for self-promotion or for the purposes of income or visibility. We acknowledge this as a grey area, and ask that applicants review our Learning Together resource to understand the operational model for delivery and participation expectations.
What practitioners have to say, and what we are learning through communities of practice
Over the years, CoPs for primary prevention practitioners have become a valuable offering through Safe and Equal. Safe and Equal continue to hear from prevention practitioners about the importance of enabling connections with other prevention practitioners and expanding networks to enable greater visibility of the range of work occurring in prevention. We know connections are key for exposure, and also for well-being. Working in social change is not easy, and isolation and burn-out is common in a sector where prevention may not be the sole focus. CoPs help connect those people.
Through ongoing monitoring and evaluation of CoPs we understand that:
- Participants find the format and themes covered in their CoPs are engaging and relevant to their work
- CoPs provide participants with new ideas, resources and knowledge that support their practice
- CoPs create an environment of support, lead to reduced isolation and create opportunities for connection in a sector where people are often working in isolated roles
- CoPs support practitioners to problem solve and identify opportunities or resolved challenges as they emerge through their work
- Practitioners feel that our CoPs are a safe space to discuss challenges
Some reflections from past participants about their experience include:
“I feel like participating in CoPs has really contributed to my growth as a practitioner and my knowledge not just that notion of you know the de-siloing, but I mean a really important part of the learning through being with each other. It’s kind of what happens when you're in the space and you're actually having the conversations and you're working through stuff. That for me - that's where some really significant growth and learning has happened.”
– Mid-Senior CoP participant, CoP participant focus group, May 2025
“The kind of the hard things that you're up against in primary prevention and you can go in feeling a little frazzled, but you always come out feeling held and that it's going to be OK. I'm OK. We're OK. In terms of mental health and well-being, I think the CoP really does contribute. In a positive way the workforce and to those who attend.”
– RRE CoP participant and focus group participant, May 2025
“[Facilitator’s] trauma-informed facilitation style stood out, and role modelled different ways of bringing it into my own practice. I also valued the collegiality and different lenses that peers brought to the conversation - the discussion-based parts of the CoP especially helped bring that to the fore, instead of always relying on solo-reflection out loud.”
– Workforce Development CoP survey respondent, May 2025
“The most valuable aspects of this CoP were the meaningful connection with PVAW practitioners - learning of new resources/research/tools, opportunity to talk through challenges and get tips and ideas from others. I got so much energy and inspiration from others to help keep motivation high.”
– CoP participant in end-point evaluation survey 2025
You can learn more about the benefits from CoPs in 2023-24 through our summary report here. A similar report with learning and outcomes from 2024-25 will be released soon. You can also read more about our CoP model in our Learning Together resource here.
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