This report presents the findings of an independent evaluation of 1800RESPECT, the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service in Australia. This evaluation considers the extent to which the service is achieving its strategic outcomes and provides practical advice and recommendations to improve the service.

1800RESPECT is a national service that provides counselling, information and support to people experiencing or at risk of domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV), including sexual harassment and workplace sexual harassment. It provides free, 24/7 support across Australia. The Department of Social Services (the department) funds 1800RESPECT through a contract based funding model, including a Performance Management Framework (PMF).

Building on a previous evaluation undertaken in 2020 the purpose of this evaluation is to -

• fill gaps in knowledge (rather than duplicating existing research)  
• understand the extent to which 1800RESPECT is achieving its strategic outcomes and value for money  
• provide practical recommendations that support continuous improvement in service delivery.  

The evaluation undertook interviews with stakeholders, a population survey and an analysis of service delivery data. It found 1800RESPECT is delivering a highly accessible service. People looking for counselling, information, support and referrals are able to speak to a qualified counsellor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. More than 80% of contacts across multiple channels are answered within 20 seconds.  

The short-term solutions-focused counselling, information and referrals 1800RESPECT provides is generally well received and appears to meet the needs of most service users, particularly those who are looking for general information and counselling supports. However, people with complex presentations and people from underrepresented cohorts are not able to consistently experience a service that meets their needs, highlighting the need to improve the ability of the service to appropriately support these service users, and the critical importance of ensuring the service is successful at referring people to specialised support services.

Recommendations

• Improve promotional activities to build awareness and understanding of 1800RESPECT within the community, and for the organisations and practitioners that make referrals to the service.
• Improve ongoing training and professional development opportunities for counsellors to ensure that 1800RESPECT consistently provides service users with appropriate, high quality, trauma-informed counselling and support.
• Review and refine processes for identifying appropriate services and referring service users to external organisations that can provide appropriate and coordinated support to victim-survivors.
• Consider opportunities to improve data collection through refining the systems and processes, technology and support for counsellors to capture key relevant information relating to service user needs and characteristics.
• Consider refining the PMF to reflect the increasing maturity of the service model and the framework.