THE WORK WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE

Running head: WORK WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE
WORK WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Domestic Violence Victoria – dvvic.org.au
b) Eligibility and referral procedure for the agency:
The domestic violence of Victoria is a peak body that provides a range of specialist
family violence services to the women and children in Victoria who had experienced domestic
violence. It is an independent, non-government organization that is working towards a vision of
creating a world for women and children so that they can live a fear-free and purposeful life.
Therefore, women and children who are experiencing violence in Victoria can contact them
offline and online. Considering the geographic location, it is located in Little Lonsdale Street,
Victoria, Australia, specifically at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Melbourne
Technical College. The organization working with family violence and hence anyone
experiencing violence or eye witness of violence can contact the organization in three ways:
phone, emails and postcard.
Phone:
Since the organization does not provide direct supports, for contacting through phone
state-wide Family Violence service is required Safe Steps is required to contact at 1800 015 188.
For receiving confidential phone help or confidential referral, the suitable contact procedure is to
call on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732). Lastly, for receiving specialist LGBTIQ family violence
service, the suitable contact procedure is to call at 1800 LGBTIQ (1800 542 847).
Email:
For contacting them with through email, the official mail is required to drop at
[e-mail].
Postal address:
Postal address for contacting is “PO Box 21175, Little Lonsdale Street, Victoria 8011”

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c) Overview of the family violence issues encountered:
Family violence has identified as the most common criminal offence in Victoria which
effectively addressed by Domestic Violence Victoria. Considering the annual reports of the
organization, it was observed that the organization often encounter family violence such as adult
children against their older parents, intimate partner violence, the violence of individuals in
same-sex relationship, siblings violence, the violence of disabled family members and violence
from extended family members. It is often common instances for family violence where women
experienced constant monitoring of her daily activities, constantly put down by a partner,
disrespectful behaviour towards her and threats of physical violence. According to the annual
report of 2015–16 shows, in Victoria, the highest incidence of family violence was 78,012,
indicating an increase from the previous year. Out of 78,012 cases, 74.8% of violence cases
indicate violence experienced by women and 24.8% experienced by men, these statistics
specifically enabled the organization to work with the women and children because in Victoria.
According to the organizational annual report, the complex issues of the domestic violence
experienced by the women include physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorders, chronic
pain, and adoption of risk behaviours, low self-esteem, low self-confidence and ability to make
decisions. The similar instances are also common amongst individuals from the LGBTQ
community which results in high suicide rates and premature mortality rate.
In order to assess the risk of family violence, the general practitioners and other
professionals assess physical injuries (bruises in chest, abdomen, and minor laceration), anxiety,
panic attack attacks and aggressive behaviour amongst children. The client's needs were assessed
by asking open-ended questions. Additionally, a range of multi-sector approach was employed
for assessing the client needs such as counselling and physical assessment. The common services
provided by the agency include specialized family violence services, community and women’s

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health services and local governments and other community services according to Strategic Plan
2016-2020. The Family Violence Sector Capacity Building Program is one such program
established by the organization to increase awareness amongst the population. LGBTIQ services
are also provided by the organization to prevent and manage family violence.
d) Criminal Justice System and legislation:
The organization comply with the criminal justice system as Victorian justice system
implemented a range of activities to reduce family violence such as policy making, victim
support, legal assistance, widespread community education, improving physical safety and
specialist prosecution and victim support service and specialist prosecution and victim support
service. The organizations complied its focus area with family violence protection act 2008 so
that women, children and LGBTQ can live a purposeful life. The organization shaped their
practices according to division 4, section 11 focusing on safety and services of the women and
children, part 5--counselling orders (5a) of family violence protection act 2008 so that family
violence can be reduced.
e) Risk management work practices:
The organization used the Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework for
reflecting on risk management work practices. The professionals are work closely with the
community and other organizations for creating an effective and empowered environment that
can reduce family violence. Common instances of risk management practices are orange doors
for assessing violence risk and elder abuse forum for discussion about the violence so that
domestic violence can be reduced. Other common strategies are to involve in mandatory
reporting and interview. The common practices employed by the organization for risk
management is to ask questions of violence in the absence of a male partner, ensuring the

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confidentiality of the victims. Additionally, media reporting is used as a tool to prevent violence
against women in Victoria where any domestic violence incidence can be reported. In order to
assist women, children and LGBTQ with the self-care strategies, the counselling and education
were provided where women were provided with skills for identifying violence, the possibility of
injuries and fatal risks.
g) A discussion of how this agency incorporates current theories and
approaches:
According to the feminist theory, family or domestic violence is defined as the
oppression of women and male coercion within four walls where women experienced a range of
different form of violence such as sexual assault, physical injury and dowry (Hart and Gilbertson
2018). The common elements are gender and power. Therefore, the organization incorporated
this theory to understand the reason behind gender-based crime, especially why it is common
amongst women. Therefore, the organization specifically developed a range of risk management
strategies such as educational campaign, a discussion forum to prevent family violence by
increasing awareness regarding domestic violence and associated power imbalance. On the other
hand, family system theory suggested that family and social situation play a crucial role in
defining violent behaviour as family conflicts, misunderstanding and disobedience often lead to
family violence. Therefore, the organization adopted a counselling approach for minimizing the
family violence where counsellors create an empowered environment for the victims and enabled
them to develop resilience skills, effective communication skills and conflict management skills
(Diamond, Wagner & Levy, 2016). In recent years, these approaches reduced domestic violence
and reduced premature mortality rate.

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References:
Diamond, G. S., Wagner, I., and Levy, S. A. 2016. Attachment‐based family therapy in
Australia: Introduction to a special issue. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family
Therapy, 37(2), 143-153.
Hart, C., and Gilbertson, A. 2018. When does violence against women matter? Gender, race and
class in Australian media representations of sexual violence and homicide. Outskirts: feminisms
along the edge, 39, 1-32.