As Torres Strait Islanders working and living in the Torres Strait, we are continuously searching for prevention strategies to curb the scourge of domestic and family violence (DFV) we see across our land. There are many geographical issues across the Torres Strait impacting our ability to adequately respond to DFV incidents, including a lack of resourcing and prevention activities.
Griffith University’s MATE program is a personal leadership program focused on role of the bystander in preventing and respectfully responding to DFV. The training provides all the practical tools bystanders need to be someone who does something.
In 2020, a group of four of us working in the DFV Sector travelled to Brisbane to undertake MATE Bystander training. Initially, we all felt overwhelmed. How would this work in culture? How would it be received in our Island communities? However, we could see the value and the potential of the bystander conversation, so over the next two years, we planted the seeds…
We worked with Elders, stakeholders, and Griffith University’s MATE Bystander team to consider the cultural application of the training in our community. In 2021 we were successful in securing a Grant from the Queensland Government’s “Office for Women and Violence Prevention” to deliver bystander training in the Torres Strait.
In 2023, it happened. The DV champions from each island travelled to Thursday Island, where, as a group, we spent four days unpacking the Bystander conversation and it’s application in each of our communities. We, the Torres Strait Island MATE trainers lead this training and worked with our people, our way. We are now working with each island individually to further the roll out of this training through our faith groups, sporting groups, women’s groups, men’s groups and youth groups; all in respect of our kinship networks and cultural traditions.