Communities for Change is a Peer Education model being used by the Australian Refugee Association to address Family and Domestic Violence within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and new and emerging communities (NEC) to raise awareness about the negative effects of family and domestic violence on victims, children, perpetrators and their communities. By training and supporting key community educators from CALD and NEC backgrounds to deliver culturally appropriate workshops for their own communities, Communities for Change is a primary prevention program reducing violence against women and children from CALD communities in South Australia. The presentation will provide an overview of evaluation research conducted on this model - specifically interviews with 14 community educators conducted both at the start of the program and at the end, when they had run specific interventions in their communities. This research demonstrates that the Communities for Change program is very well received within communities, and has the potential to reduce rates of family and domestic violence, as well as to improve pathways for help-seeking for victims and survivors that are culturally safe and appropriate. The workshop presentation will also outline the key elements of the Communities for Change model together with evidence for its efficacy and positive reception within CALD and NEC communities, for whom traditional prevention models may not be appropriate. Finally, the presentation will also discuss research on the model in relation to the psychological impacts of violence on women and children in CALD and NEC communities, and best-practice, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed ways to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes for people who have experienced violence.

3 key learning:
1. Community-led family and domestic violence programs are critical to the prevention of family and domestic violence in culturally and linguistically diverse communities

2. An individualised approach is necessary for every different culturally and linguistically diverse community and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to either prevention or help-seeking

3. Peer-led education for family and domestic violence is a powerful tool for change

Please see Hannah Browne

Please see Hannah Browne