Our partnership with Yarra Communities that Care®
We participated in a collaborative, place-based approach with Yarra Communities that Care®, to strengthen family relationships in the City of Yarra. This partnership involved the delivery of evidence-based social and emotional literacy messaging to families, and the coordination of a facilitator network involving multiple partner agencies. The project culminated in an Evaluation Report that demonstrates the importance of a collaborative and place-based approach.
Our role in the partnership was to lead the 'strengthening family relationships' priority area for the initiative, and included coordinating the collaborative delivery of the Tuning in to Kids® and Tuning in to Teens® programs, information webinars for parents, and the facilitator network.
On this page you can read more about our involvement in the initiative, and the Evaluation Report and research summary we published in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Our role in the Yarra Communities that Care® initiative
Government and community and social services sectors are increasingly focused on collaborative, place-based approaches to address complex social challenges in specific geographic areas. In 2017, our Melbourne Family Relationship Centre was one of 24 services invited to participate in the Yarra Communities that Care® initiative. As part of our role, we led the coordination and delivery of the evidence-based programs, Tuning in to Kids® and Tuning in to Teens®. We also delivered webinars and information sessions to parents on topics like taming teen anxiety, keeping connected with teens and handling tricky friendship days.
During our partnership, we also coordinated a network of practitioners from 15 active partner agencies to deliver the Tuning in to Teens® parenting program. Together, these agencies worked collaboratively with a shared purpose to deliver evidence-based social and emotional literacy messaging to families. In July 2024, we released an Evaluation Report that explores the success of this facilitator network. The Report is a first step in defining, evaluating and developing our approach to place-based prevention and early intervention initiatives to strengthen family relationships and improve wellbeing.
Yarra Communities that Care® program and session statistics (2017–2024)
67 programs delivered
69 faciliatators in the Facilitator Network
1383 attendees of 14 webinars/information sessions
The positive outcomes of a collaborative, place-based approach
Building on positive program feedback and achievements from 2017–2022, we conducted an evaluation of the Facilitator Network's collaborative and place-based approach.
Our aim was to better understand the Facilitator Network's contribution to systemic change and to apply these learnings to future place-based approaches within our respective agencies.
Across 4 focus groups and interviews with 9 facilitators in the Network, we confirmed that the Facilitator Network was much more than the provision of programs in the area, it was a community of facilitators and stakeholder who felt a sense of investment, belonging and connection.
More information on our findings can be found in our July 2024 Evaluation Report.
Research summary: Evaluating our collaborative approach to strengthening family relationships in the City of Yarra
Drawing on the findings of our Evaluation Report, in March 2025 we published a 2-page research summary.
This research summary outlines the findings of our Evaluation Report, including 4 key principles for successful coalition and the main benefits of a collaborative approach.
Read more about our research and evaluation work
Research and evaluation
Read about our evidence-informed approach, view our Theory of Change video and download our Social Impact Report.
Current projects
We're currently undertaking research and evaluation projects across a range of areas related to family relationships.
Our dedicated research and evaluation team
Driving collaborative design, development and implementation of our outcome measurements and evaluations.
Presentations, webinars and publications
We're committed to knowledge sharing and contributing to sector-wide continuous improvement. We regularly share our research and evaluation learnings at conferences and events and through webinars and podcasts.
Previous projects
For over a decade, we've conducted a wide range of research and evaluation projects, including major projects funded by the Australian Research Council.
Research and evaluation summaries
These summaries are designed to share the outcomes of key projects and initiatives relating to our services, clients and community needs.
Relationship Indicators 2022
View the results of our nationally representative survey into the state of relationships in Australia.