Van Nguyen presenting “Working metaphors: cross-sector collaborations between family violence and substance use services” at the Graduate Colloquium

Van Nguyen is a social worker and PhD researcher. Van’s study, “Working metaphors: cross-sector collaborations between family violence and substance use services”, was a preparatory step of an Australian action research project that sought to explore how professionals understood and enacted this. By gaining insight into how professionals conceptualized cross-sector collaboration, leverage points were identified that supported the development of a policy stakeholder group working to address systemic issues of cross-sectoral practice. Drawing from her experience as a social worker, Van has witnessed the detrimental impact of silos between these sectors for vulnerable families. Motivated to bridge these gaps, her interviews with senior policy workers and senior managers aims to enhance the capacity of substance use and family violence sectors to collaborate effectively. Through scrutinising the ways in which professionals speak and think about collaborative practice, Van aspires to uncover methods fostering cooperation, ultimately striving for improved outcomes for families navigating the complex interplay of substance use and domestic violence.

Van’s study explored four metaphorical concepts used by participants that elucidate the different ways in which cross-sector collaboration has been conceptualised and enacted. Collaboration was understood by participants as: engaging with geopolitics; fixing infrastructure; running a business; and playing a game. Certain concepts hinder participants' capacity to engage and sustain collaborative practice whilst others held potential to facilitate collaboration but were seldom adopted. Initial findings identified potential opportunities to incite change in collaborative practices between substance use and family violence sectors.