Join Desert Blue Connect in a Summit to address Family Violence
/On September 28, Desert Blue Connect Inc. will be holding a Community, Respect and Equality (CRE) Summit and launching the CRE Strategic Action Plan for the prevention of family violence at the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Seniors and Community Centre in Geraldton.
Family violence is a significant social issue in our community which is preventable and can be effectively reduced by prevention activities and collaborative community action.
The rates of family violence in Geraldton and surrounding communities are amongst the highest in the state. Each month, the Midwest-Gascoyne Police Family and Domestic Violence Response Team attend an average of 234 Family Violence incidents for a total of 2819 incidents for the 2016/17 financial year.
It is estimated that over 80% of women who experience violence from a current partner do not contact Police, making the estimated number of actual number of family violence incidents in the region closer to 14,000 per year (Source WA Police; ABS Census 2016, ABS personal safety survey 2012).
Over the last twelve months Desert Blue Connect have managed the CRE project and have developed with community consultation a CRE Strategic Action Plan to address primary prevention of family violence in our local community.
The CRE project aims to inspire, innovate and connect community leaders, sector and service organisations, and government to work together on creative and sustainable strategies for the primary prevention of family violence.
“Desert Blue Connect have advocated for a long time that Geraldton needs a high level strategic action plan and to focus on primary prevention to reduce the levels of family violence in our community,” says Executive Manager Operations, Desert Blue Connect Daphne White.
“The CRE Summit is the start of our community journey in primary prevention. It will inform, educate and create momentum within the community to drive prevention activities.”
“We are fortunate to have five experts in the field of primary prevention at the Summit whose knowledge will be invaluable to those attending, as will be their sharing of successes and challenges working in the field.”
Promoted as a state-wide event and the first of its kind in regional Western Australia, the Summit aims to attract services workers, professionals from all fields (education, family violence, youth, health, sport and business), government and non-government agencies, policy makers and community with an interest in primary prevention.
The CRE Summit will be a forum that will raise awareness of family violence in the community. It will provide a sound, evidence based foundation from which the community can start a unified journey to challenging and saying no to violence within a regional context.
The Honourable Minister McGurk will be opening the CRE Summit and launching the CRE Strategic Action Plan.
Funded by the Department of Social Services the CRE project will see the publication of a community led Action Plan for the Primary Prevention of Family Violence in Geraldton.
Desert Blue Connect is the region’s leading provider of support to women and children experiencing family and sexual violence. It provides services that include women’s health, family violence response including services for women, men and children, primary prevention and crisis accommodation for women and children.
For more information on the CRE Summit or CRE Strategic Action Plan, contact Daphne White at Desert Blue Connect on 9964 2742 or visit the website www.communityrespectandequality.com.au.
