Upcoming CPVA conference
On 14 October, VisAble is hosting a one-day online conference on Child to Parent Violence and Abuse (CPVA) - for parents, caregivers, whānau and professionals. With a line-up of expert national and international speakers, the conference will be great value.
We'll explore the realities of CPVA, share emerging research and practical responses, and build greater awareness and understanding across Aotearoa.
Supporting our peer support groups
Proceeds from this conference help fund VisAble's peer support groups, which currently operate without dedicated funding. For many parents, caregivers, and whānau affected by CPVA, these groups can be a lifeline, offering connection, validation, and support in what can often be an isolating and traumatic experience. By attending this conference, you are helping ensure these vital support networks can continue.
There are two registration types below. One for professionals or those who can pay full price. There is a separate registration with lower pricing for parents/caregivers.
Please select the type that relates best to your situation.
Register for CPVA conference
Speaker profiles
Featuring leading national and international speakers, the conference will explore the realities of CPVA, share emerging research and practical responses, and build greater awareness and understanding across Aotearoa. Attendees will leave with valuable insights, tools, connections, and hope for creating better outcomes for families living with CPVA.
Jonathan Tautari
Conference Opening and Closing Remarks
Jonathan, Chief Executive of VisAble, will provide both the opening welcome and closing reflections for this conference. Based in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), Jonathan is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Manaia, and Tainui whakapapa.
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With more than 18 years of experience in policy, management, and senior advisory roles across the health and disability sectors, Jonathan is committed to ensuring services continue to evolve and respond to the changing needs and aspirations of the communities they serve.
Claire Ryan
Conference Host
As VisAble's Relationship and Workforce Capability Lead, Claire brings nearly 40 years of experience in the disability sector and is a passionate advocate for human rights, inclusion, and self-determination.
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Based in Ōtākau (Otago), she is committed to preventing and eliminating violence, abuse, and neglect experienced by disabled people. As Conference Host, Claire will welcome attendees and introduce speakers throughout the conference.
Lee Tempest
Lee Tempest is the Child to Parent Violence and Abuse (CPVA) Lead at VisAble and has developed CPVA resources and training. Lee has many years of lived experience of child to parent violence and abuse - and knowledge of the systemic barriers within service provision due to lack of awareness about this form of family harm.
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Lee has a Bachelor of Social Work and a diploma in mental health and addiction. She also is a trauma-informed integrative somatic facilitator.
Dr Karen Hale
Dr Karen Hale is am a disability focused practitioner-researcher with a PhD in Critical Studies in Education from the University of Auckland. Karen’s practice and research interests are in relational practice, inclusive and rights-based systems, and professional decision making.
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Karen has worked in community health and disability services overseas and in government organisations focusing on tamariki and whānau wellbeing.
Al Coates MBE
Al Coates MBE is a qualified social worker and adoptive parent to six children and former foster carer, with over 20 years of experience - having worked with adoptive families, kinship and foster carers.
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Drawing on both his personal and professional experiences, Al specialises in supporting families caring for children with complex and challenging behaviour, raising awareness, working with services to develop support and lobbying for change. He founded and co-hosts the weekly 'Adoption & Fostering Podcast', speaks on national media and contributes to reports on childhood challenging and violent behaviour. In 2024 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to look at international models of support for families caring for children with challenging behaviour, and this was released in April 2025.
Michelle John
Michelle John is the founding director of PEGS, a social enterprise which aims to reduce the individual and societal impact of Child to Parent Abuse. PEGS has directly supported more than 9,000 parents over the past five years, and has trained more than 2,000 frontline professionals.
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Michelle helped develop the very first regional CPA policy which is now in place across some UK regions. She was also asked to consult on the Domestic Abuse Act by the Home Office, and has partnered with the DWP to create an Employer Covenant. Michelle's work has been recognised by numerous national and international awards schemes, as well as raising awareness of CPA through media and events. Visit www.pegsupport.co.uk to find out more.
Tabatha Ross-Brown
Tabatha Ross-Brown is the chief executive officer of Parent Real Talk, PRT, Inc. and victim advocate for parents and caregivers living with domestic violence and abuse by a child. Tabatha also works full time at a children’s mental health agency in Detroit, Michigan, supporting parents navigating youth-serving systems.
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Through Tabatha’s efforts, the Board of Commissioners for both Wayne and Oakland County, two of the largest counties in Michigan, recognize child to parent violence and abuse as a public concern and October 14th as Child to Parent Violence and Abuse Awareness Day; Tabatha’s organization held the nation’s first CPVA awareness day in October of 2023. Tabatha has received international recognition for her advocacy and support for parents living with abuse. Tabatha is the author of one of Amazon’s top new release books and #2 best sellers ranking: Child to Parent Violence and Abuse: An Overview of Children Abusing Parents.
Dr Dave Burck
Dr Dave Burck has 15 years of experience working with young people and mothers who have experienced domestic violence, trauma and adolescent-to-mother violence. He has a PhD from the University of Queenland, where he researched the intersections between adolescent-to-mother violence and intimate partner violence.
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He has published an article in the journal Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education entitled “Silenced Mothers: Exploring Definitions of Adolescent-to-Parent Violence and Implications for Practice”, and wrote a book chapter titled “Adolescent-to-Parent Violence and the Promise of Attachment Based Interventions” in the collection “Young People using Family Violence: International Perspectives on Research, Responses and Reforms”.
Professor Anita Gibbs
Fire by Day, Fire by Night - Violence and abusive behaviour experienced by New Zealand caregivers.
Anita has taught numerous social work, sociology and criminology courses with a particular interest in teaching in the area of families and neurodivergence.
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Up until recently, Anita was a registered social worker and for many years has facilitated parent support groups for families supporting whānau with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in Dunedin and online. In 2024, her research into caregivers' experiences of violence and abuse involving children with FASD was published. The article entitled “ 'No-one believed us: no one came to help': caregivers' experiences of violence and abuse involving children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder”, was recognized as a top-viewed article for 2025 in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy. Anita continues to advocate strongly for FASD recognition and appropriate support for individuals and their families/whānau.
Courtney Hastings
Courtney Hastings is a Registered Social Worker in Hawkes Bay with whakapapa to Ngāti Kahungunu. Courtney is trained in Non-Violence Resistance by Connective Family, with experience in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
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Awhi means to embrace, cherish, and to surround. Embracing families at where they are at, to cherish our tamariki and our strengths, and to surround them with the support that works which encapsulates the principles of NVR.
Olivia Bloom
Olivia Bloom is a registered psychologist with over 10 years’ experience across the disability, family violence, and sexual violence sectors. Her work largely focuses on systems change, shaped by the lived experiences of survivors of abuse and their whānau.
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Olivia has been actively involved in the development of safeguarding adults mahi in Aotearoa, supporting both practice and policy responses in this area. She has worked closely with Lee Tempest to develop CPVA resources and trainings, and co-facilitates the national CPVA peer support group.