Principle Partners

TAVAN Institute has been co-founded by Betty Taylor and Dr Brian Sullivan,both of whom have extensive experience working to end gender based violence

Betty Taylor has extensive experience in the area of domestic violence including direct service provision, program development and training. She is the founder and previous Director of the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre Gold Coast and chaired the Queensland Domestic & Family Violence Council for two terms, 1994-1997 and 2001-2004.  Betty was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2002 to investigate multi-agency interventions to domestic violence across the USA and Canada and has overseen the successful development of the Gold Coast Domestic Violence Integrated Response. Betty has undertaken various projects at a local, state and national level. Betty has written and developed numerous training programs on domestic violence and was awarded a Centenary Medal for her contribution to domestic violence service provision. Betty is passionate about quality training and continues to provide a range of training, both accredited and non-accredited as well as consultancy services, program development and supervision. During 2008, Betty was contracted to develop a discussion paper on Domestic Violence Death Reviews. She is currently providing the training for a pilot accredited training program " Course in Responding to Domestic & Family Violence"      Betty holds a Bachelor of Social Science and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment

Dr Brian Sullivan After a number of years working in leadership roles in the education and human service sectors, Brian undertook advanced counsellor training in the USA. He completed his doctorate in counselling and mental health at the College of Health and Human Services, University of Toledo, Ohio in 2000, where he researched readiness for change of court-mandated male perpetrators of domestic violence.    While in the USA, Brian also trained in the Duluth Model of Domestic Violence Intervention. He has worked intensively with court-ordered men using the Duluth program. Brian teaches at the University of Queensland in the Master of Counselling Program where he coordinates a course in Violence Issues in Counselling. He also provides training for professionals in Domestic Violence Intervention Programs for men who perpetrate intimate partner violence. In 2008, Brian was appointed a White Ribbon Ambassador.

Both Betty and Brian are Duluth trained on developing collaborative responses to domestic violence and developing and running educative programs for male abusers.