Safe & Together Institute

08/23/2026

AI can produce language that sounds thoughtful, objective, and professional. But what happens when the assumption underneath it is wrong?

New research into AI "sycophancy"—its tendency to affirm a user's views—raises real questions for domestic abuse practice. If the starting point is mother-blaming, AI may not correct that framing. It may strengthen it.

David Mandel put this to the test, giving the same case to two major AI tools and the Safe & Together Digital Coach. One of the three asked a very different question than the other two.

The problem isn't simply whether professionals use AI—it's whether the AI is trained to challenge a biased framing instead of echoing it.

Read "AI Can Make Mother-Blaming Sound Professional":
https://hubs.la/Q04tj3jm0

08/21/2026

What happens after someone shares their expertise with your organisation?

Do they hear what changed? Do they know how their contribution was used? Were expectations, decision-making roles, and compensation clear from the beginning?

These practical questions can make the difference between simply seeking input and building meaningful, accountable engagement.

Join Ruth Reymundo Mandel on 27 August for a live online seminar exploring the structures organisations can put in place to work more ethically and sustainably with survivors and cultural experts.

You’ll leave with practical tools to examine your current approach and identify one concrete commitment to take forward.

📅 27 August 2026
🕘 9 a.m.–1 p.m. AEST
💻 Online
Register: https://hubs.la/Q04tMxs90

08/19/2026

"Should I call him a perpetrator?"

It's a question that comes up constantly in practice—in supervision, in case conferences, in the quiet moment before a report gets written. And it's rarely as simple as it sounds.

Get it wrong, and the consequences can be real: for accountability, for how a survivor feels believed, for a worker's own safety and confidence in the room.

VAWG consultant and researcher Rasha Hamid has spent years sitting with this exact tension in her training work. In her latest blog, she unpacks why this isn't really a for-or-against debate and offers a framework to help workers and organisations think it through with more confidence.

Read her piece here: https://hubs.la/Q04thNnJ0

08/18/2026

📣 Just published: What happens when you bring Safe & Together directly into MARAC meetings?

We teamed up with SafeLives on a six-month pilot in two Scottish council areas, funded by The Scottish Government and evaluated by the Improvement Service—and the results are striking.

Regarding how MARAC responds to domestic abuse, practitioners' agreement with the following statements increased:

📈 Recognition of survivors' protective efforts: 65% → 87%
📈 Practitioners engaging with & holding perpetrators accountable through action plans: 15% → 61%
📈 Domestic abuse framed as a parenting choice that harms children: 54% → 83%
📈 Referrals with comprehensive perpetrator pattern information: 38% → 70%

That's the shift this pilot made possible—keeping perpetrators visible and accountable, while supporting survivors' strengths and children's safety.

Learn more here:

An independent evaluation by the Improvement Service has found early evidence of a clear shift in MARAC practice in two Scottish local authority areas following the integration of the Safe & Together Model . The MARAC and Safe & Together Integration Pilot (MSTIP) Learni

08/14/2026

A teenager who starts using their size to intimidate people. A teen who suddenly wants nothing to do with home and starts spending time with a riskier crowd. A teen who avoids relationships altogether or jumps into one that isn't right for their age.

Easy to read as "typical teenage stuff." It can also be a young person's response to growing up around domestic abuse.

A toddler shows it differently, maybe losing skills they'd already learned. A school-age child might start believing it's somehow their fault.

Same experience, different ways of showing it. Children's responses to domestic abuse change with age and developmental stage, which means practitioners need different ways of recognising what they're seeing.

That's exactly what Safe & Together's four-day Core Training builds in practitioners. Across assessment, interviewing, documentation, and case planning, participants learn to build a fact-based picture of a perpetrator's pattern and how it's actually landing on the child in front of them.

Learn more about Core Training:
https://hubs.la/Q04slryC0

08/14/2026

Quiet defiance. A daily routine held onto against the odds. A child finding their own way to push back.
These are acts of resistance, and they are too often missed.

Jackie Wruck, our Asia Pacific Regional Manager, is hosting a live webinar on how survivors of domestic and family violence, and their children, resist in ways that deserve to be recognised, not overlooked. It is a conversation about seeing safety, strength, and dignity where we have been trained to see only harm.

Everyone is welcome to join.

📅 3 September 2026
🕙 10 a.m. AEST
🔗 Register: https://hubs.la/Q04stLg90

08/12/2026

Today on International Youth Day, we're celebrating young people everywhere and the energy, ideas, and hope they bring to the world around them.

This year's theme is "Different Contexts, Common Aspirations," a reminder that young people are dealing with different circumstances depending on where they grow up but tend to want the same core things underneath it all: to be taken seriously, to have real opportunities, and a chance to shape their own future.

Listening to young people shouldn't begin and end with International Youth Day. It's something we should commit to every day.

For young people who've experienced domestic abuse, we see your strength and resilience, and the positive impact you keep making even in hard circumstances.

We're committed to safe, supportive environments, adults who see their potential, and real chances to contribute to their communities. That starts with holding perpetrators accountable and standing behind protective parents.

Every young person deserves to be celebrated for who they are.

08/11/2026

Family safety is an essential part of the broader conversation about economic and social development.

A new Food for Africa News article features our founder and CEO David Mandel on the connections between domestic violence, economic security, child wellbeing, and the ability of families and communities to thrive.

Drawing on his experience in both international development and domestic violence, David explores why family safety deserves greater attention in how we think about development and long-term wellbeing.

Read the full article: https://hubs.la/Q04sCDNP0

Domestic violence expert David Mandel explains why family safety should be a development priority. Governments measure development through indicators such as economic growth and food security. But…

08/10/2026

What if AI could do more than save practitioners time? What if it could help strengthen practice?

The Safe & Together Digital Coach and Insight Engine was created specifically to support domestic abuse–informed, trauma-informed and child-centred practice.

Built on the Safe & Together Model, it helps workers strengthen documentation, focus on perpetrators’ patterns of behaviour, recognise survivors’ protective efforts, and prepare for challenging conversations in everyday practice.

For leaders, it provides insight into practice quality and how the Model is embedding across teams.

We’re currently inviting a small number of organisations to become founding pilot partners.

Want to see it in action? Book a demo below.

👉 North America & Europe: https://hubs.la/Q04spDv90
👉 Asia Pacific: https://hubs.la/Q04spP-D0

08/07/2026

Children and young people affected by fathers who choose violence have important stories to tell—but too often, those voices go unheard.

In this episode of Partnered with a Survivor, David and Ruth are joined by Professor Cathy Humphreys and Dr. Katie Lamb to explore why listening to children and young people is essential to understanding the impact of family violence and shaping more effective responses.

Every conversation about family violence should make space for the voices of those who experience it most directly.

Listen here: https://safeandtogetherinstitute.com/podcast/episode-21-listening-to-the-voices-of-children-and-young-people-harmed-by-fathers-who-choose-violence

About This Episode For too long we have not listened to children and young people’s experience of their father’s violence. To fill this gap, Professor Cathy Humphreys and Dr. Katie Lamb interviewed children and young people about what they wanted to say to the fathers who were violent to their f...