Working on a structural level to prevent violence against women: Observations from a state-based, integrated and joined up approach Dr Deborah Western Department Social Work Monash University

Presentation overview  Explores structural reforms & activities in the Victorian FV service system reform strategy  Considers a whole-of-government, or an integrated joined up approach, as a response to preventing violence against women  A preventing violence against women (PVAW) focus

Why is this topic relevant to me?  FV and preventing violence against women is a community issue; everyone’s responsibility  You have contact with/are likely to have contact with women who have experienced/are experiencing FV  It is crucial to understand the service system within which you work & to consider:  your role within the service system  how you and your service can best respond to women  how you and your service could work most effectively with other services and/or agencies.

What is men’s violence against women?  A major policy, human rights, crime and public health challenge  Global stats indicate 1 in 3 women  Indigenous women in Australia – 40% more likely  Women with disabilities  Refugee and immigrant women  In this presentation refers to domestic/family violence, intimate partner violence

What is the ‘structural level’?  Broad-scale structures, systems, institutions that shape/influence the way we live. Examples:  Social  Political  Economic  Legal  Can be powerful  Can be inequitable, discriminatory, oppressive, marginalising

What is structural reform?  Change at that structural level  Policy change  Legislative reform  Attitudinal change  Why is it needed?  Breaches human rights/women’s rights  People’s needs are not being met

Why consider structural reform in relation to Preventing VAW?  It is a complex problem & requires sophisticated, collaborative responses  Contributing factors to VAW are located at the structural level  Preventing violence against women requires a long-term approach to change entrenched, ingrained and sometimes unacknowledged attitudes & beliefs about women  PVAW requires change at all levels – individual, family, community, society, all government levels, organisations, culture

What is prevention?  Primary: taking action to prevent VAW happening in the first place. Example: respectful relationships programs in schools  Secondary: activities that provide a response early after violence has occurred with the aim of intervening early so as to prevent further violence. Example: women’s support group  Tertiary: responses that are provided after violence has occurred. Examples: Men’s Behaviour Change programs; crisis and refuge responses for women  VicHealth Preventing violence before it occurs: A framework and background paper to guide the primary prevention of violence against women in Victoria.

What is an integrated joined up approach to government?  “Working collaboratively across departments, portfolios or levels of government to address complex issues which cross individual agency boundaries” (State Services Authority 2007: vii. Victorian approaches to joined up government: an overview. S. S. Authority. Melbourne, State Government Victoria).  Enables:  Coordination  Multi-level  Multi-agency

What is an integrated joined up approach to government?  Potential Limitations:  Partnerships and partnering  Requires trust & openness  Value conflict  Establishing a common philosophy; goals  Resistance to change  Complexity of arrangements  Resourcing  Who is accountable? Leadership & governance

An integrated joined up whole-of government approach to family violence in Victoria  2005  Reform needed  Fragmented  Uncoordinated  High demand on services  Focus on family violence response

Structural reform & a joined up approach: The Integrated FV Reform Strategy  Long-term approach  All stakeholders working together to achieve service integration that results in:  increased safety of those who experience family violence  Increased accountability of those who use violence.

The Integrated FV Reform Strategy: Aims  Reduce deaths, injuries and the emotional impact of FV  Respond more effectively to all women & children experiencing FV  Strengthen the response of the police and the courts to FV  Increase the accountability of and access to behaviour change programs for men who use violence  Emphasise the rights, needs and safety of children  Provide greater support to all workers who deal with victims of FV  Bring FV into the open and give all members of the community the confidence to speak out

Structural reform & a joined up approach: The Integrated FV Reform Strategy People Organisations inclu FV; family services Policy & legislative change Committees & representative bodies Government Research PoliceCourts & justice system Child Protection Indigenous

People   Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon  First woman commissioner  Focus on violence against women for Victoria Police  CC Ken Lay

Committees & representative bodies  State-wide Steering Committee to develop an integrated service system for FV  18 regional and subregional integrated family violence committees throughout Victoria to improve coordination of service delivery  Regional Integration Coordinators  Interdepartmental Committee  Five Ministers: Women’s Affairs and Early Childhood Development; Attorney-General; Community Services; Police and Emergency Services; Aboriginal Affairs, Housing and Local Government

Courts & justice system  Specialist FV courts  Family Violence Protection Act 2008  Victoria Police Code of Practice for the Investigation of FV

Policy & strategy  Women’s Safety Strategy  Indigenous family violence 10 year plan: Strong Culture, Strong Peoples, Strong Families.   The prevention agenda was documented and launched as a ten- year plan called A Right to Respect (Office of Women's Policy 2009). violence-against-women pdf  Victoria’s Action Plan to Address Violence against Women & Children : Everyone has a responsibility to act. Children.pdf

Research  The Health Costs of Violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence (VicHealth 2004).  Preventing Violence Before It Occurs -– A framework and background paper to guide the primary prevention of violence against women in Victoria (VicHealth 2007)  a conceptual framework that could be used to develop policy  addresses the underlying causes or determinants of violence against women – gender inequality, gender stereotyping  suggests change at different levels & in five key settings: education and training; local government, health and community services; workplaces; sport and recreation; media, arts and popular culture. 

Practice resources & guidelines  Code of Practice for Specialist FV Services – Domestic Violence Victoria  Practice Standards for Family Violence Counselling and Support Programs for Women and Children  Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (Common Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF)

Common Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF)  Guidelines and information about risk assessment & risk management  Identifying FV  Responding – referral, consultation, information sharing  Assumption: if all organisations working with women and their children experiencing family violence worked from a common risk assessment and risk management framework, all women would receive a sound, coordinated and consistent response no matter where they entered the service syst em.

Common Risk Assessment Framework  A shared understanding of risk and family violence across all service providers  A standardised approach to recognising and assessing risk  Appropriate referral pathways and information sharing  Risk management strategies that include ongoing assessment and case management  LINKS:  

Reference  Western, D & Mason, R 2013, ‘Gender-based violence in Australia: A State-based joined-up approach’, in K Nakray, Gender-based Violence and Public Health: International perspectives on budgets and policies, Routledge, Milton Park