November 2016
In the Spotlight
Star Weave Jam with WHIN, 7 December 2016
Women’s Health In the North is delighted to invite our members to attend a Star Weave Jam and afternoon tea to celebrate the end of another successful year.
Date: Wednesday 7 December 2016
Time: 2.30pm to 5.30pm
Venue: Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, cnr Bell Street and St Georges Road, Preston, 3072
Registration: on
Eventbrite or contact the office at
info@whin.org.au or 9484 1666
The event will support the One Million Stars to End Violence project, which needs individuals, groups and communities to join in a world-wide movement to end violence. The aim is to weave one million stars by July 2017, which will then be featured in an installation at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. You can find out more about the Project on their website and Facebook page. The event will be held during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gendered Violence campaign.
WHIN will provide materials and instructions for making the stars, including a video demonstration.
Afternoon tea will be served after the crafting session, giving members a chance to socialise and share in a review of WHIN’s work in 2016. Registration is essential for catering purposes.
WHIN would like to acknowledge the support of the Victorian Government’s Victoria Against Violence campaign in resourcing this event.
We look forward to welcoming you on the day!
WHIN at Work
AGM and 25 Year Anniversary Celebration
On Thursday 27 October WHIN held our AGM and celebrated 25 years of working for the health, safety and wellbeing of women in the Northern Metropolitan Region (NMR) of Melbourne. This special event was attended by almost 70 past and present WHIN members, supporters, partners, Board and Staff.
The celebration featured author, curator and social justice activist Tasneem Chopra. She reflected on 25 years of feminism, with a lens on the contribution of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and the road still to be traveled to achieve gender equality.
A history of WHIN, packed with photos, interviews and an impressive timeline of the organisation's achievements of the quarter of a century, was launched at the event. You can download the 25 year history here.
Corporate Services Manager Adriana Uteda celebrated her 25 year anniversary of working at WHIN and spoke to her personal and professional journey over these years. Staff member Robin Gregory reflected that Adriana embodies the qualities that allowed WHIN to excel, and that she demonstrates the same enthusiasm for her job today as she did on the day WHIN first opened its doors.
Musicians Freya Hanly and Jen Anderson came together specially to perform, delighting the audience with their blend of jazz folk.
For information about WHIN’s work in 2015-16, download our Annual Report.
Violence Against Women Factsheets for 2015-16 Now Available
WHIN has produced a series of fact sheets that provide an overview of the most recent police data (2015-2016) relating to violence against women, including family violence and sexual assault. The fact sheets provide data on the number of reported incidents of family violence and sexual assault, and gender breakdown of victims and perpetrators. They also include comparable statistics for each of the seven local government areas in the NMR.
To download the Violence Against Women Fact Sheets 2015-16 click here.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is Underway!
Friday 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign which runs until Human Rights day on 10 December. This is a global campaign dedicated to ending gender-based violence and raising awareness about the impact of violence against women.
In the lead up to the campaign WHIN was pleased to share our updated 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign Toolkit. This is now available on the Resources page of the WHIN website under preventing violence against women. WHIN would like to acknowledge the support of the Victorian Government’s Victoria Against Violence campaign in updating this toolkit.
First developed in 2013, this Toolkit contains background information about the origins of the 16 Days Campaign, an overview of the significant days within the campaign and information on how you can become involved, including practical resources to assist with spreading the message and raising awareness. It also provides information on the 2016 theme, From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All!
It's not too late to get involved! Make sure to check out the WHIN Facebook page for our series of posts making the link between gender inequalities and violence against women.
Applying a Gender Lens to Health Planning
On 20 October, WHIN held an Applying a Gender Lens to Health Planning workshop for a number of partners from across the NMR.
Staff from nearly all local councils, community health and primary care partnerships from across the region were able to attend. This was the first event held by WHIN to give support to our partner organisations as they commence developing their Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan or Integrated Health Promotion Plan for the period 2017-2021.
The workshop covered the following areas:
- key terms and definitions relating to gender
- an exploration of gender roles across the lifespan and the impact on health and wellbeing
- information and resources regarding the application of a gender lens on planning and policy development.
The commitment from across the region to engage with this work, as reflected by both attendance on the day and participation in the session, was inspiring to see.
If you are interested in working with WHIN to incorporate a gender equity approach to your planning, or you would like to know more about the session, please contact Annie Douglass in the Health Promotion team on 8459 8811 or annied@whin.org.au.
On the Shoulders of Giants – Workforce Resilience Forum
On Tuesday 8 November, over 60 participants explored strategies to enhance workforce resilience in a forum co-hosted by Northern Integrated Family Violence Services and the Northern Indigenous Family Violence Action Group. After hearing about the impact of trauma from psychologist Shawn Goldberg and strategies to build a resilient workforce from a panel, participants discussed workforce resilience solutions.
The Royal Commission into Family Violence acknowledged the issues of workplace stress and vicarious trauma facing the family violence sector.
Click here for a summary of the forum.
Upcoming Training and Events
Koorie Coordinated Care Training, 8 December 2016
Koorie Coordinated Care is offering one-day introductory training in:
- developing strong networks with Aboriginal organisations
- principles of culturally safe client intake and assessment and follow up practices
- developing client records, support plans and case management via an e-referral platform
- strengthening client support networks using the Serviceseeker directory.
This training is suitable for staff working with Aboriginal clients including client intake workers, client support workers and managers. It provides participants with skills and techniques on e-Referral to address the social, emotional and cultural well-being needs of Aboriginal individuals, clients and families.
Date: Thursday 8 December 2016
Time: 9.30am to 4.00pm
Location: Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Limited (VACSAL)
Registration: submit an EOI by COB Monday 28 November
For more information see the flier or contact Melinda Eason, VACSAL RTO Manager on 9416 4266 or melinda.eason@vacsal.org.au.
Women's Wellbeing
Specialist LGBTI Clinic Opened by Mind Australia
Specialist therapeutic support for sexually and gender diverse people is now offered by Mind Australia through two sites in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne: Alphington and Fitzroy North.
Services include psychological therapy, including individual, couples and relationship counselling and sex therapy.
Other services with an educative and social inclusion focus will become available over the next six months, including linkages to legal and employment services.
For further information about this service please see the flier or contract the Practice Manager, Nicole Coad, on 0499 550 252.
In the Community
Trailblazing Women of Herstory Exhibition
A sixteen day art extravaganza is set to descend on Neospace Gallery in Collingwood starting Friday 25 November. An initiative of non-profit organisation The Global Women’s Project, Trailblazing Women of Herstory is a unique fundraising art exhibition where the world of history, feminism and arts collide to create positive change for gender equality.
Bringing together a group of over 35 award-winning and emerging artists from diverse backgrounds to celebrate the vibrant contributions of visionary women, the exhibition will raise money for vocational education and training programs with women in Nepal and Cambodia.
Each portrait featured in the exhibition is powerful, inspirational and truly reflective of the courage and bravery of the woman portrayed, captured afresh to influence a new generation of women and men alike.
To find out more and to visit the exhibition, please visit www.trailblazingwomen.com.au.
CENTSable Evaluation
CENTSable is a website that has been created to assist workers to provide financial information to women who may apply for assistance through No Interest Loans.
The University of Melbourne is evaluating the extent to which the CENTSable website is assisting counsellors and workers when meeting with women in financial distress.
Please click here to commence the survey.
This survey closes on 30 November.
Women’s Policy Action Tank Seek Policy Analysis Pieces
The Women’s Policy Action Tank is a joint initiative of Good Shepherd ANZ’s WRAP Centre and the Power to Persuade. Earlier this year they initiated the Scorecard on Women and Policy project, in which a gender lens is used to analyse government policy – both the ‘usual suspects’ of what are considered policies aimed at women as well as supposedly ‘gender neutral’ policies that differentially impact on women and men.
Their policy analysis pieces are short, sharp pieces of approximately 600 words that analyse a specific policy or set of policies. Recent contributions include a piece by WHIN’s Deb Parkinson, Alyssa Duncan and Kiri Joyce on how disaster-preparedness protocols don’t reflect the unique challenges women face during times of disaster. You can peruse all of the policy analysis pieces here, listed below the Articles on Women and Policy.
The Women’s Policy Action Tank would like to invite you to submit a policy analysis piece. These are placed on the Power to Persuade’s blog site, with the aim that they both highlight how a gender lens is necessary for effective policy development as well as to be publicly available for use by policy advocates.
For more information, contact them at womenspolicy@goodshep.org.au.
Life in Australian Society as a Women with No Children Research Project
Are you a woman who has no children and aged 65 years or more? If so, Deakin University would love to hear from you.
If you would like to take part, please click this link to complete the anonymous online questionnaire, which will take only 20-30 minutes.
For further information, visit the research project’s Facebook page.
If you would prefer to complete a paper copy of the questionnaire, please contact Taylor Nally on 9246 8335 or taylor.n@deakin.edu.au
