To celebrate the Best Practice winners 2010 – 2011, we will be
running a special series of Best Practice blogs over the coming days.
These articles are written by the clubs themselves, and in many cases
will appear in English and the language of the club. We hope you enjoy
learning about the 2010 – 2011 Best Practice projects and take away
ideas and inspiration for the future!
Programme Focus Objective: Promote peaceful conflict resolution, inter-cultural and inter-racial tolerance and condemn genocide.
Following on from a very successful 2009 Domestic Violence Forum
for Women titled “Building Healthy Relationships” we were encouraged and
supported in planning and presenting a similar forum in 2010. A committee was
formed early in 2010 with six members of The Hills District Club of Soroptimist
International, and two members of the Hills Domestic Violence Prevention
Committee. The committee met monthly. Other community service agencies, organisations
and individuals also volunteered their support – Wesley Family Services, St
Michaels Family Centre, Interrelate, the Australian Baha’i Community, Horizons
Legal Services and Centrelink.
In order for the cost to
be free to participants and to enable the Club to advertise as widely as possible,
a grant application was sought and publish by the New South Wales Office for Women’s
Policy. After a year of planning the 2010 Domestic Violence Forum for Women
titled “Maintaining Healthy Relationships” was held on 30th November 2010. The forum was held within the 16 days of activism for the UN
Prevention of Violence Against Women. It also followed White Ribbon Day, an
event widely promoted within the Hills Shire by the Hills District Domestic
Violence Prevention Committee.
The
Forum morning programme included three guest speakers. The first speaker was
Bryce Gaudry, a White Ribbon Day Ambassador who revealed his own story of a
child growing up in a violent home. The second speaker was Steve Frost, the
principal of Horizons Community Legal Centre, with the majority of his work
relating to parenting disputes and domestic violence matters. Steve spoke about
the practical issues surrounding separation and the court processes surrounding
domestic violence. The third speaker was Snr
Constable Granton Smith, the DVLO from the Hills Local Area Command. Granton’s
talk was very encouraging, warm and friendly and promoted the services of the
police in domestic violence issues. The morning concluded with participants
choosing one of three workshops:
Workshop 1: Managing Conflict within the family. This workshop attracted many participants, the majority of
which were from a number of multi-cultural backgrounds.
Workshop 2: Family Law. This
workshop saw a number of women seeking advice from Snr Constable Smith and
information from solicitor Steve Frost.
Workshop 3: Social and Cultural Abuse. This workshop also attracted many women from different cultural
backgrounds.
The afternoon program included 2 guest speakers. Arini
Beaumaris, the National Secretary of the Australia Baha’i Community, imparted
very well-received information regarding children and learning within the
context of the family environment at home. Julie Griffin, an advocate for women
and a member of the Kuringai Domestic Violence Prevention Committee, closed the
afternoon with some very valuable practical
advice to women regarding warning signs in relationships and the need to make good choices
regarding relationships.
80 people participated in this programme. From evaluation forms it is obvious that the event was a success.
The participants’ expectations and the need for information over a wide variety
of issues related to conflict and violence was met. The women from the
community clearly indicated their needs for themselves and their families, requiring
more information and clarity on healthy family relationships, and the need to
have access to support and help from community organisations. A number of women
indicated that they felt more empowered and many related how much they enjoyed
meeting other women and sharing stories.
The committee will continue its working relationship with the
Hills Domestic Violence Prevention Committee taking guidance and advice on how
to reach the women within our community in order to reduce the current domestic
violence statistics.
SI The Hills District, Australia