The 2021 – 2022 year has been very successful and provided many outcomes for families and individuals across the spectrum of our services.
The Outreach program has continued to provide FDV specialist support to women in Carnarvon. During 2022 the service and has seen an increase in demand and in particular during the isolation phase of COVID. CFSS WA are continually looking at innovative ways to assist our clients both within the Gascoyne Women’s Refuge and in the wider community.
The Outreach program provides FDV specialist support to women in Carnarvon. The program works with women who are residing separately from their perpetrators as well as with women who are residing with perpetrators.
The program aims to reduce the impact of Family and Domestic Violence and promote safety for families living in the community.
The Outreach Program provides brief intervention support, as well as 6 week intensive and specialised case management up to 12 weeks.
The Outreach Program will continue in 2023 and provide an opportunity for families to access Family and Domestic Violence support without discrimination or judgement.
Every six weeks staff work alongside Desert Blue Connect Staff to assist with home visits and this working relationship is experiencing many positive outcomes for clients.
Purple Bench
CFSS WA, Soroptimist International and The Shire of Carnarvon are now part of a growing footprint of Purple Benches across WA which honour the memory of victims murdered by their partners and provide help numbers for people experiencing Domestic Violence. Carnarvon’s Purple Bench is situation at the end of Robinson Street overlooking the Fascine. The Carnarvon purple bench will serve as a reminder of the sobering facts of Family and Domestic Violence and is an opportunity for our community to confront this important issue.
16 Days of Activism
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual campaign that begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs through International Human Rights Day on 10 December. This year in Carnarvon CFSS partnered with the Shire of Carnarvon to host the Walk In My Shoes Event at the Woolshed. At this event 65 shoes formed a pathway into the building which represented the number of Domestic Violence Homicides in Australia in the past 12 months. CFSS Managing Director spoke on the importance of bystander intervention and gave a good overview of Family and Domestic Violence in Western Australia. The overarching theme of her presentation was that we all have to play our part and perpetrators need to start taking responsibility for the violence and their inappropriate actions and behaviour. The attendees and organisers then walked to the Purple Bench where Kay Oakley was invited to lay the white wreath on the bench in memory of her daughter and others who had died here in Carnarvon.
