Everybody's Responsibility - How multicultural services are responding to Domestic and Family Violence
Tracks
Monarch Room - In Person
| Wednesday, November 30, 2022 |
| 2:35 PM - 2:55 PM |
Overview
Maree Foelz, Access Community Services Limited (ssi)
Speaker
Ms Maree Foelz
Settlement Domestic & Family Violence Project Officer
Access Community Services Limited (SSI)
Everybody's Responsibility - How multicultural services are responding to Domestic and Family Violence
Abstract
Access Community Services Limited, part of the Settlement Services International (SSI) group, believes that they have an important role to play in supporting migrant and refugee clients who are experiencing domestic and family violence and thereby improving the health, safety and wellbeing of the community.
Following recommendations from the ANROWS 2020 MuSeS Project, in 2021 Access set out to better identify and support (migrant and refugee) women in situations of domestic and family violence. To become a more Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) informed and responsive service.
This was to be delivered by employing 2 specialist DFV staff including a Project Officer; to develop a Settlement DFV Framework and practice manual, which would include specialised needs assessment tools to recognise, respond and refer DFV issues; to develop the skills of settlement staff across Logan, Ipswich and the Gold Coast through training and implementation of the framework and manual to increase capacity and capability in relation to supporting SETS clients to identify and address DFV issues; and to deliver information and education sessions to enhance community response to individuals presenting to them with issues related to DFV.
This presentation will share the progress that has been made to date, including the complexities of working within a generic multicultural service system, working with staff from different disciplines, and the complex nature and barriers facing our migrant and refugee families impacted by DFV.
This presentation will also showcase some of the extensive work being done by SSI in the context of developing a broader SSI National DFV Framework, and how this work becomes 'everybody's responsibility'.
Following recommendations from the ANROWS 2020 MuSeS Project, in 2021 Access set out to better identify and support (migrant and refugee) women in situations of domestic and family violence. To become a more Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) informed and responsive service.
This was to be delivered by employing 2 specialist DFV staff including a Project Officer; to develop a Settlement DFV Framework and practice manual, which would include specialised needs assessment tools to recognise, respond and refer DFV issues; to develop the skills of settlement staff across Logan, Ipswich and the Gold Coast through training and implementation of the framework and manual to increase capacity and capability in relation to supporting SETS clients to identify and address DFV issues; and to deliver information and education sessions to enhance community response to individuals presenting to them with issues related to DFV.
This presentation will share the progress that has been made to date, including the complexities of working within a generic multicultural service system, working with staff from different disciplines, and the complex nature and barriers facing our migrant and refugee families impacted by DFV.
This presentation will also showcase some of the extensive work being done by SSI in the context of developing a broader SSI National DFV Framework, and how this work becomes 'everybody's responsibility'.
Biography
Maree Foelz is currently the Settlement DFV Project Officer at Access Community Services Ltd Logan, a subsidiary of SSI International. Maree worked as the Specialist DFV Court Coordinator at Beenleigh through 2021 and previously as the Family Violence Partnership Coordinator, working for 12.5 years at Australia’s only Neighbourhood Justice Centre in Collingwood, Victoria, where she assisted in the development and management of projects, practices and processes associated with crime prevention, family violence and victim support, and chaired the Yarra Family Violence Network. Maree was previously employed for 25 years, as a police officer in Queensland, working in crime prevention, family violence coordinated responses and facilitating training.
