The month of May marked Domestic Violence Prevention Month and together with the Women’s Council for Family and Domestic Violence, Yorgum Aboriginal Corporation and the Lucy Saw Centre Association Inc, we came together as the darkness enveloped the day, on May 1, the National Day of Remembrance, and lit candles in solidarity to honour the women who have died by domestic homicide.

Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence CEO Angela Hartwig emceed the event and as she announced this was the third year that WA were holding the vigil, we joined the rest of the country in unison as they also remembered their victims.

We had guest speakers in attendance including Janine Freeman, MLA, Member for Mirrabooka, Gary Bentley, who had lost his sister Andrea to Domestic Homicide and Dr Ann O’Neill, DV survivor, ambassador of Our Watch and founder of Angelhands, who delivered a harrowing and emotive snapshot of the world of DV, as she told her story. 

Read the full article here.

On Monday 8 April, Stopping Family Violence held their 'What's New in FDV Interventions' showcase at the South of Perth Yacht Club and more than 60 people were in attendance from 27 different community services organisations and departments across WA.

We had some excellent key note speakers and a definite highlight of the day was our interactive workshop, which built on the need to not just have conversations; but to actively participate in the change that we talk about.

We had some powerful talks from speakers including Angela Hartwig from the Women's Council for Family and Domestic Violence who said in her address, "We'll take the gains we can get, and with the losses, we'll make a lot of noise along the way. FDV is more than a national emergency; it's time that we work collectively." These words have inspired that collaborative outreach SFV wants to achieve.

Kate Jeffries from Anglicare impressed the importance about how everyone needs to become DV informed across the whole organisation. She went on to emphasise this by calling upon the whole room to work towards becoming DV informed and DV proficient. 

As SFV's Mark O'Hare talked about the Safe & Together Training model, we heard how Centrecare, Legal Aid, Department of Communities and Anglicare had a collection of people who have completed the S&T training and have successfully implemented it into their workplace.

The Department of Communities delivered their update about the 10 Year Strategy for Reducing Family and Domestic Violence and the CEO for SFV Damian Green drew on the importance of caring Dads as he talked about 'Caring Dads' and the Fathering project, and Christian from Centrecare also spoke about Caring Dads.

The day was a great success with attendees enjoying the opportunity to network with others working within the sector and the breath of topics covered on the day. 

To view the presentations click here.

WA’s tenancy and residential parks laws have now changed to support victims of family and domestic violence (FDV) and help them to leave abusive relationships.

Key changes enable victims of FDV to: exit a tenancy with seven (7) days’ notice without going to court, remove a perpetrator from a lease by applying to the courts, change locks or increase security, handle disputes about property damage or unpaid rent, and have their name removed from a tenancy database blacklist.

More information 

Updates to the bill

Kate Jeffries has recently moved from Anglicare WA to Stopping Family Violence, after spending almost 15 years in WA’s Family and Domestic Violence sector. She said it didn’t matter where she went, she always found friendly faces and old colleagues. Joining SFV as a Project Consultant, Kate said the position will allow her to support the FDV sector growth through targeted sector developments and she was really excited to be a part of it.

Kate’s experience started in WA’s Men’s Behaviour Change programs in 2006, when she moved from New Zealand’s Specialty Youth Services. Here she would support high risk young people away from the justice system and assist them back into the community. She has worked across direct service delivery with men choosing to use violence, women impacted by their violence and therapeutically with young people and children.  

Most recently, Kate has focused on strategic development in both the FDV sector and Family Law Sector through executive committees such as WA Family Law Pathways Network, Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence (WA) and the Men’s Behaviour Change Network.

Kate said her passion and energy come from supporting direct group work and practitioner development as well as seeing the FDV sector thrive in continuous improvement, intersectionality, innovation and diversity. Her experience from across the ocean, and throughout Western Australia working with an Indigenous cultural lens, means she has the awareness to listen, learn, grow with and support the strengths and specific needs for the people.  

Stopping Family Violence partnered with the Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services, Relationships Australia and Palmerston drug and alcohol service to deliver a presentation about FDV and respectful relationships at Sevenoaks Senior College in Cannington to 23 students in years 11 and 12.  

Stopping Family Violence Operations Manager Mark O’Hare said they were invited to the school to come and talk to the students about FDV and discuss attitudes towards healthy relationships. 
To read the full article click here.

Examining the power of Child-At-Risk electronic medical record (eMR) alerts to share interpersonal violence, abuse and neglect concerns: Do child protection alerts help?

Research report: In-depth research report

To read the full article click here.

A landmark report released by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network in June 2018, provides the first comprehensive analysis of domestic violence homicide nationally. It follows calls during the ANROWS Conference from Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins for expanding the Death Review function to all eight jurisdictions and establishing a national function to collect and report on data and monitor recommendations made.  
 
See the report by ANROWS conference dinner speaker, Jane Gilmore.

Stopping Family Violence (SFV) Operations Manager Mark O’Hare teamed up with Legal Aid WA’s Family Violence Specialist Consultant Michael Hovane to deliver essential Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) training across two days through a series of workshops for staff from the Family Division – including lawyers, paralegals, admin and secretarial staff.

Mark said it was important to remember that the work the legal staff do with FDV-related issues is often quite trauma-focused, and self-care was a vital component for the staff. 
To read the full article click here.

The Women’s Council in partnership with Stopping Family Violence and SARC held a wonderfully successful two-day conference on Non-Fatal Strangulation (NFS). The Red Rose Foundation in Queensland had brought Gael Strack and Dr. Bill Smock to the eastern states to provide training and offered the Women's Council the opportunity to bring these experts to WA.

Gael B. Strack is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Alliance for HOPE International. The Alliance includes the National Family Justice Center Alliance, Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, Camp HOPE America, Justice Legal Network and VOICES Survivor Network.

Dr. Bill Smock is a Police Surgeon and directs the Clinical Forensic Medicine Program for the Louisville Metro Police Department. In 1994, he became the first physician in the United States to complete a post-graduate fellowship in Clinical Forensic Medicine. He is an internationally recognized forensic expert and trains nurses, physicians, law enforcement officers and attorneys in multiple fields including: officer-involved shootings, strangulation, gunshot wounds, injury mechanisms and motor vehicle trauma. Dr. Smock is also the Police Surgeon for the Jeffersontown, Kentucky and St. Matthews, Kentucky Police Departments. He also serves as a sworn tactical physician and detective for the Floyd County Indiana Sheriff’s Department.

The Women's Council received some additional funding from the Dept. Social Services to provide financial assistance to regional participants to attend.  One hundred and twenty people attended from a wide cross section of agencies and government departments including WA Police, Emergency Department doctors, Ambulance officers and the Domestic Family Violence Sector. 

The conference opened with a powerful and moving speech from Robyn, a survivor of Non-fatal strangulation. Bill and Gael then spent the next two days delivering an intensive, informative, in-depth and challenging program on how to recognise NFS, how to build case in court and how to ensure a victim receives proper medical assessment.   

Following the two-day conference Minister Simone McGurk invited Bill and Gael to a briefing breakfast with department representatives, including the Chief Judge to discuss how NFS legalisation might operate in WA.  

A steering committee will be established to continue delivering training on NFS, raising community awareness of NFS and advocating for strong NFS legislation in WA.

Read more 

ANROWS and Stopping Family Violence Inc. convened a workshop to discuss the upcoming ANROWS research Evaluation readiness, program quality and outcomes in Men’s Behaviour Change Programs, led by Professor Andrew Day. The workshop was conducted on Thursday 18 October 2018 in Perth, WA and provided an opportunity for participants to explore a range of preliminary findings from the project. Of particular importance, participants were also encouraged to discuss and reflect upon the implications of findings for their local practice and policy contexts.

A wide range of stakeholders engaged in the workshop including domestic and family violence practitioners, MBCP providers and program managers, researchers, government professionals, policymakers, corrections staff and researchers from predominantly Western Australia as well as across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.

Read more 

The Research Report and Research to Policy and Practice paper will be made available later in the year. More information about this project is available here.
 

We partner with a lot of like-minded organisations and just recently our Operations Manager Mark, delivered some training at AOD treatment service provider, Holyoake. This is what Clinical Services Manager, Natalie Ross had to say:

Thank you to Mark from Stopping Family Violence for your informative and inspiring training with our team at Holyoake Vic Park.

The staff reflected on the comment, “making the invisible visible” in the documenting of clinical case notes.

Many practical discussions have been taking place, ensuring the accurate representation on the impact of the whole family functioning is recorded.

As a service we have made deliberate choices in the way our screening and assessments are conducted and ongoing training provision for staff and students in the Family Domestic Violence space.

The team was very blown away and inspired by Mark’s training and experience. I’ve had feedback that it’s the best training some have done before.
 

Stopping Family Violence were invited to attend UWA's Symposium on Family and Domestic Violence on May 28, and Operations Manager Mark O'Hare and CEO Damian Green delivered a presentation entitled, 'What are men's roles in preventing FDV?'.  

The symposium addressed the question: How can we think, act and communicate differently to improve the capacity of graduates and staff to facilitate and accelerate innovative work and research in Family and Domestic Violence prevention and response?

Speakers attended from all across the sector including representatives from Zonta House, Breathing Space - Communicare, Centrecare, Women's Council for Family and Domestic Violence Services and Aboriginal Family Law Service.

The forum was a good success and aimed to encourage collaborations between professionals in the industry, creating a like-minded, DV-informed sector.
 

Stopping Family Violence attended the Midland March That Matters on Thursday 23rd November 2018 at Juniper Gardens, Midland. Led by the WA Police Pipe Band, members of the public, and community and government services marched together side by side to end men’s violence towards women. The message being delivered was that domestic violence is a community issue and in order to combat this, we as a community need to end the silence around domestic violence by standing up and speaking out. This year marked the 5th year for this White Ribbon event in Midland, which received a fantastic turn out. Amongst the services that attended were the Midland Police, Centrecare, Rise Network, RSPCA WA, Midland Women’s Health Care, Indigo Junction, Relationship Australia WA, Women’s Law Centre WA, City of Swan, White Ribbon, Zonta House and many more.

Read more.
 

The Stopping Family Violence team were privileged to be in attendance at the 28th Annual Silent Domestic Violence Memorial March at the Supreme Court Gardens in Perth on Friday 23rd November.

The Western Australian Police Pipe Band, followed by Minister McGurk and Police Commissioner Dawson, lead the Memorial March through Perth CBD and back to the Supreme Court Gardens. With approximately 1000 people in attendance, this was a fantastic turn out on the day, in which all of us at Stopping Family Violence felt honoured to be a part of.

Read more. 
 

Our Operations Manager, Mark O’Hare attended the White Ribbon Day Community Festival at Centennial Pioneer Park, Gosnells on Saturday 24th November.

Organised by Save the Children and the City of Gosnells, this was a free community event celebrating White Ribbon Day which encouraged members of the local community and community services to come together to recognise and raise awareness on the positive role men can play in preventing violence against women.

With a free BBQ, bouncy castle, children’s play area, face painting, drumming circle, family and kids’ activities, it certainly was a fun day out for all those involved.

Read more.

Watch Mark's post-event video updates on Facebook part one and part two.
 

The Stopping Family Violence team attended a morning tea for the 16 Days of Activism WA Campaign at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on Monday 26th November.

A number of community services were invited to attend and provide information and contacts on the services available in WA that work in the area of family and domestic violence. 

Director General, Mark Foster opened the event and introduced speakers Kedy Kristal from the Women's Council and Amber, a survivor of domestic violence.

To read more or to find out more about the 16 days of activism click here.