A PROGRAM aimed at changing men’s attitudes towards women is helping to reduce incidences of family violence in Wyndham.
Lifeworks Relationship Counselling and Education Services runs a 13-week workshop designed to help men who have committed domestic violence change their behaviour.
Speaking ahead of White Ribbon Day on Sunday, Wyndham branch manager Nick Valentine said the program was an integrated response to the issue of family violence.
“Family violence is a significant problem in the region,” he said.
“It is growing in population so quickly and it is a multicultural region as well, so we are dealing with a broad scope of men who are committing family violence.”
Men taking part in the program are usually referred to Lifeworks through the courts or by police, although some enrol themselves.
Mr Valentine said the workshops were often the first step men took to try and change their behaviour. During the workshops, men are asked to challenge the values and beliefs which contributed to their use of violence.
Lifeworks also partners with a women’s support network to assess the needs of the participants’ wives and girlfriends.
“For one of the 13 weeks the women come in and we talk to them to see what support we can provide. Often the violence is not just physical but verbal and mental, where the men are constantly checking up on the women or isolating them from friends and family, so we have to address that.”
Mr Valentine said the program made a difference because it didn’t assume there was a particular type of man who committed domestic violence. “Our statistics show perpetrators of family violence include everyone and anyone. They don’t have to be unemployed or an alcoholic.”
For more details, visit lifeworks.com.au
