Partnerships

Partner: Fire and Rescue NSW
Program: SPARK Program

UFPC works in partnership with Fire and Rescue NSW to support young people who engage in fire misuse behaviours.

About the SPARK program

The Structured Psychological Assessment and Response to Kids’ Fire Misuse (SPARK) Program is a free specialist UNSW service developed in partnership with Fire and Rescue NSW.

It provides psychological assessment and intervention for children and adolescents who engage in fire misuse behaviours. The program focuses on reducing risk, developing practical skills and supporting families.

What the program offers

• Structured psychological assessment, including fire-specific risk assessment

• Individualised formulation of fire misuse behaviour

• Modular intervention tailored to developmental needs

• Family-based support and parent-focused intervention

• Collaboration with referring agencies, including Fire and Rescue NSW, Youth Justice and schools

Who the program is for

The program is for children and adolescents 4–17 years old who engage in:

• Fire play or fire misuse

• Repeated fire-setting behaviours

• Other fire-related risk behaviours

Referral pathway

Referrals to the SPARK Program are managed in partnership with Fire and Rescue NSW.

To access the program, visit the Fire and Rescue NSW Youth Fire Intervention Program.

Referrals may also be accepted from families and professionals working in services such as schools, Youth Justice and clinical settings.

Intended outcomes

The SPARK Program aims to support:

• Reduced fire misuse behaviours

• Improved emotional and behavioural regulation

• Greater family understanding and effective supervision strategies

• Improved safety and risk management

Partner: Youth Justice NSW

UFPC maintains an active research collaboration with Youth Justice NSW focused on improving outcomes for young people involved in the criminal justice system.

The collaboration includes the evaluation of custody-based intervention programs targeting institutional misconduct and reoffending, including the Warby Behaviour Intervention Program.

UFPC has also partnered with Youth Justice NSW and the UNSW 3DX Lab on a grant application to develop and co-design innovative virtual reality interventions for young people involved in the justice system.

This work aims to strengthen prevention and rehabilitation through immersive, technology-assisted treatment.

Why this partnership matters

The partnership brings together forensic psychology, youth justice expertise and emerging technology to explore more effective ways to support young people, reduce harmful behaviours and improve rehabilitation outcomes.

Partner: Refugee Advice and Casework Services

Asylum seekers and refugees can face significant barriers when accessing psychological evidence during the visa decision-making process.

To help address this need, the UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice established a formal partnership between Refugee Advice and Casework Services (RACS), a centre affiliated with Law & Justice, and the UNSW Faculty of Science, School of Psychology and UNSW Forensic Psychology Clinic.

RACS refers clients to UFPC for psychological assessment relating to matters such as trauma-related behaviour and risk to the community. This evidence may be relevant to character-related visa decisions.

The partnership also provides supervised Master of Psychology (Forensic) students with real-world experience in forensic assessment involving asylum seekers and refugees. This may include working with interpreters and developing culturally safe assessment practices.

Research outcomes

The partnership has supported two ethics-approved research projects exploring:

• The use of psychological evidence in refugee decision-making involving vulnerable people

• The training of provisional psychologists in culturally safe forensic assessment in refugee matters

Why this partnership matters

The partnership helps address gaps in access to psychological evidence while supporting culturally safe practice, supervised student learning and research into fairer decision-making.