Centre rebuilds broken lives
IN a quiet laneway in Geelong, the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre is helping traumatised members of the community heal their lives.
Staff are seeing an increasing number of children and young people impacted by family violence.
The centre supported 3865 clients who had been exposed to sexual assault and family violence last financial year.
Chief executive Helen Bolton said the prevalence and reporting of domestic violence in the region and nationally was increasing over time.
“Most women think about leaving an abusive relationship eight to 16 times before they actually do,” Ms Bolton said.
“Some women come in and say, ‘I don’t want to leave him, I love him, I just want the violence to stop’.
“It can be a hard time, especially if you have to leave your community and your support.”
Many clients seeking sexual assault support had also been impacted by family violence.
This year, 51 women — almost one a week — in Australia are known to have died after being subjected to violence.
Ms Bolton said many women in their 60s and 70s who had experienced 30-40 years of abuse were finally seeking help at the centre.
About 20 sexual offences investigators and 20 detectives from the family violence unit work at the centre.
Psychologists, social workers, art therapists and yoga teachers work to help traumatised women and children piece their lives back together.
Treatments including eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, art therapy, music therapy and yoga are helping build self-esteem.
Ms Bolton said workplaces could help combat family violence by forming gender equality targets and ensuring women felt safe to speak up.
She said schools needed to teach children about positive relationships and the community was responsible for tackling condoning of abuse.
She said family violence happened in all sectors of the community.
Aboriginal women, pregnant women and women with disabilities are more likely to experience family violence.
Ms Bolton said while alcohol intake and financial stress contributed to family violence, they were never the cause.
“The cause is deeply held attitudes that they have the right to act like that,” she said.
“If you think it is occurring in your neighbourhood, then call the police.”
Violence is not inevitable, it is preventable.
16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence against women. It continues until December 10. Details: 16dayscampaign.org