RESTORE - Centre for Research Excellence

Project Details

Transforming health systems to restore wellbeing and enhance access to healing after sexual violence in adulthood

Sexual violence affects at least one in six women and one in 25 men in Australia. Linked to a range of chronic mental and physical health problems and risky health behaviours, the harm caused significantly contributes to the burden of chronic ill-health and disability, particularly for women and LGBTQ+ individuals.

The role of the health system in supporting victim-survivors of sexual violence is critical. Addressing the health impacts of sexual violence early can potentially avoid worsening symptoms, lost productivity and reduced participation in public life for victim-survivors. However, to date, health system responses to sexual violence have been inadequate.

The RESTORE Centre of Research Excellence aims to transform health systems so that they can restore wellbeing and enhance access to healing for victim-survivors of sexual violence in adulthood.

With a focus on women and LGBTQ+ survivors as priority populations, this will be achieved through integrating research and lived expertise to drive health system reform. We will generate new knowledge through three research streams:

1. Interrogating under-utilised datasets to drive health systems change
2. Testing novel therapeutic approaches to increase pathways to healing
3. Scaling pathways and implementation strategies to embed trauma and violence-informed care in the health system.

Through the Centre, we hope to:

• Create new pathways to healing for victim-survivors by providing evidence for whether therapies like trauma-sensitive yoga, physical activity and music therapy are effective.
• Identify how victim-survivors use health services and where there are unmet needs, particularly for LGBTQ+ people.
• Explore how a “sense of safety” can be achieved in health settings.
• Drive capacity-building and international collaboration to future-proof the sexual violence research workforce.

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Researchers

Chief Investigators:

A/Prof Laura Tarzia, The University of Melbourne
Prof Kelsey Hegarty, The University of Melbourne
Prof Deborah Loxton, The University of Newcastle
Prof Victoria Palmer, The University of Melbourne
Dr Patricia Cullen, University of New South Wales
Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash University
A/Prof Simon Rosenbaum, University of New South Wales
Prof Elizabeth Holliday, The University of Newcastle
Prof Lorna O’Doherty, Coventry University, UK
Prof Nancy Glass, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Associate Investigators:

Ms Fiona, Lived-Experience Expert, WEAVERS
Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno, World Health Organization, Switzerland
Dr Sian Oram, Kings College London, UK
A/Prof Jacqueline Cameron, University of Wollongong)
Prof Michael Salter, University of New South Wales
Ms Martina Eaton, Lived-Experience Expert, WEAVERS
Prof Jane Koziol-McLain, Auckland University of Technology, NZ
A/Prof Melissa Tracy, University at Albany, USA
Prof Katrina McFerran, The University of Melbourne

restore-centre@unimelb.edu.au

www.restore-centre.org.au

Collaborators

University of Newcastle
University of NSW
Coventry University
Monash University
John Hopkins University

Funding

Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. $3 million over five years from November 2024-October 2029.