Embedding evidence-based practice

The Parenting Research Centre’s PracticeWorks method is a game changer for delivering services to children and families.

It’s a new way of thinking that helps you take an approach to working with families in ways that are more effective for them. And for you.

PracticeWorks helps to define good child and family practice, support it, and continually improve on it. It works for both individual organisations and for those who commission and fund child and family services. It’s built on insights gleaned from a decade of collaborative work between us and our clients.

“Our whole process feels alive. There is a vitality in the way we are working. We’ve had staff telling us ‘this is the best work day I’ve ever had’ when they see results with families.”

— Catherine Wood, Operations Manager, Wesley Brighter Futures Metro West, Wesley Mission NSW

Connecting theory and practice

You can use our method to make evidence-based practice a reality. But in a way that’s flexible enough to suit  families’ different contexts and needs.

It’s elastic enough to comfortably sit around existing or new parenting programs. And it can help organisations build effectiveness into their day-to-day work using shared tools for making decisions and solving problems.

Geared to your goals

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, we can help you clarify your approach to practice, better express it, redesign it completely – or all three. The end result is collaboratively developed with you. This allows us both to harness the rich in-house expertise you already have and achieve something that works in your world.

We’ll help you reach a shared understanding of what good practice looks like. This will help you meet the challenge of giving children and families a consistent level and quality of service – regardless of who they’re working with in the organisation.

Bringing it all together

PracticeWorks has three main phases:

• DISCOVERY: a process to help you gather organisational insights into how you practice, what’s working and what’s not, and what the evidence says
• DESIGN: where we work together to develop practices and activities, test and tailor them, then build a feedback system for continual improvement
• DELIVERY: technical assistance for you every step of the way – from initial consultation to full implementation.

The end result is a fully operating, seamlessly integrated continuous practice improvement system.

Learn more

• Download our PracticeWorks brochure (PDF 430KB)
• Contact us to see how PracticeWorks can work for you
• Take a look at the other services we provide
• See how our work is making a difference