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NO to violence
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AN ESTIMATED ONE IN THREE LGBTQI+ PEOPLE EXPERIENCE INTIMATE PARTNER AND/OR FAMILY VIOLENCE IN THEIR LIFETIME.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE LGBTIQ+ COMMUNITY FACES SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS IN ACCESSING APPROPRIATE SERVICES – BOTH FOR VICTIM-SURVIVORS AND FOR THE MEN WHO USE VIOLENCE.
No to Violence is working with Thorne Harbour Health and ACON to change that. A trial national program beginning early this year will offer gay, bi, trans and queer men who use violence the help they need to understand and change their coercive or abusive behaviours.
GBTQ men are too often shut out of mainstream Men’s Behaviour Change Programs because those programs just aren’t appropriate – and, unfortunately, may even be unsafe. Most existing Men’s Behaviour Change Programs are designed for cis/heterosexual men rather than for GBTQ men.
We know that GBTQ men have different experiences, needs, and concerns than cisgender/heterosexual men, and therefore need to be supported in different ways.
No to Violence – the largest peak body in Australia for organisations and individuals who work with men to end family violence – received philanthropic funding to implement two trial online perpetrator interventions.
One of the trial programs will be aimed at gay, bi, trans and queer men, and the other will be aimed at those in rural, regional, and remote areas. Both will be evaluated to inform any potential future programs. Thorne Harbour Health and ACON both run programs for members of the LGBTIQ+ community who are concerned about their behaviours – these are two of the only programs in Australia that are designed by and for LGBTIQ+ people.
Working with these organisations gives us the opportunity to collaboratively design a forpurpose online intervention, which means that more men will be able to understand and change their behaviours – regardless of where they live in Australia.
Before COVID-19 lockdowns, online intervention wasn’t considered an important part of perpetrator accountability. However, the experience of the past two years has shown us otherwise.
No to Violence will design the program with Thorne Harbour Health and with input from ACON. It will build on existing expertise and will be a ground-breaking online intervention for men from multiple states and territories. Running a multi-jurisdictional program online means we can reduce barriers to access for men who need help and, hopefully, reach men who would be otherwise unable to get the help they need to change their abusive or coercive behaviours.
If we want to end family violence, in all its forms, we have to work with perpetrators to enable them to change their behaviours. To do this, men who use violence must be able to access the help they need to begin this behaviour change work. This new program will help make that possible.
