Scholarship launch – supporting professional development

Scholarship Program 2021 – supporting professional development 

WorkUP Queensland is excited to launch the second round of our scholarship program for the workforce of organisations funded by the Qld Department of Justice and Attorney General to deliver domestic and family violence, sexual violence and women’s health and well-being services.

Scholarships to the value of $20,000 were granted towards fees for accredited training and higher education for workers of any level across organisations.

We encourage you to explore the range of opportunities available, from frontline workers to managers. Applicants must demonstrate the impact the qualification will add to their role and work within the sector, how they will share their knowledge with colleagues, and the application must be endorsed by their employer.

Our 2020 round awarded scholarships for a range of courses including:

• Graduate Diploma of Domestic and Family Violence Practice
• Graduate Certificate in Business (Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies)
• Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Trauma and Recovery Practice
• Graduate Certificate in Facilitating Men’s Behaviour Change
• Master of Domestic and Family Violence Practice
• Bachelor of Psychological Sciences
• Graduate Certificate in Applied Coaching
• Master of Human Rights

 Please see the guidelines and application form below. Applications close on Wednesday 16^th June 2021.

Scholarships Program - Applicant Guidelines

Scholarships Program - Application Form

by MandyHF

Collaborative Workforce Grants

Collaborative Workforce Grants

The Collaborative Workforce Grants support organisations to develop the capacity of their staff and organisations to respond to workforce challenges.

The program provides up to $10,000 for an activity or project and are a great opportunity for organisations to work together on a project that may have been on the agenda but needed support to complete.

The grants align with WorkUP and the sector’s shared workforce priorities to grow, retain, develop, support and connect the workforce, and sustain services.

The following organisations* were awarded grants in 2020 for projects to be completed in 2021:

• Micah Projects: We are all Works in Progress: Developing the skills of those working with domestic violence perpetrators
• Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre: Practicing: Cultural Healing and Diversity (CHAD)
• Children by Choice: Sharing knowledge: Working with women with intellectual disability at the intersection of violence, reproductive coercion and unplanned pregnancy
• Cairns Sexual Assault  Service: Lifting the Lid 2021
• Mercy Community Services SE Qld: Working with Domestic Violence & Cultural Sensitivity –Yarning Circle
• SPEAQ: SPEAQ Forum 2021
• Save the Children Australia: Communities of Practice (COP): Using the Safe & Together approach to shift practice, culture and systems

* lead organisation or network listed only

Our next round of Workforce Grants will be launched late 2021. Please subscribe to our Newsletter to be kept up to date with WorkUP Queensland activities.

by MandyHF

Sexual Violence Awareness Month – Start by Believing

Sexual Violence Awareness Month – Start by Believing

The single biggest factor stopping victims/survivors speaking out about sexual violence is the fear of not being believed.

Di Maclead, Director, Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence

On average, one in five women is likely to experience sexual violence over the course of her lifetime,¹ and that assault is most likely to occur by someone she knows. Community attitudes that minimise or dismiss women’s allegations of sexual assault remain alarmingly high, with 42% of people believing that women make up claims of sexual assault to get back at men and 31% of people believing that rape allegations were a result of women experiencing regret after engaging in a sexual act.

October is Sexual Violence Awareness Month (SVAM) with the simple but powerful message, Start by Believing. WorkUP Queensland reached out to practitioners working in the sexual violence sector across the state, asking them what this meant to them and their practice and how they planned to acknowledge sexual violence awareness month.

When we start by believing we can change the whole trajectory of healing, of justice and healthcare. It’s simple…I believe you, I am sorry this happened to you, how can I help?

Di Macleod challenges us by asking When someone tells you they were sexually assaulted, how will you respond?

When invited to reflect on SVAM Katrina Weeks, at the Centre Against Sexual Violence (Logan), offered the following:

It makes such a big difference to a survivor of sexual assault if you start by believing their disclosure. It is important to support them in ways they find helpful. In my work as a sexual assault counsellor I have found that women and children who have been believed by whoever they first disclosed to have gone on to have much better outcomes both in their healing and possible criminal justice responses. Here at CASV we have worked with the Gold Coast CASV and Logan police to promote Start by Believing.  

Another theme for this year’s SVAM is #affirmative consent. Queensland needs legalisation that supports a model of affirmative consent based on the idea that all people have the right to have sex or not. That any sex that takes place needs active confirmation including everyone involved taking steps to ensure the others involved want to participate freely.  Current proposed legislative changes do not go far enough and do not support a community standard of active consent.

Support a SVAM event

The Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence is commencing with an online launch event in October, and then each week this month they will be hosting events under different themes. You can find more information here.

The Centre Against Sexual Violence in Logan and Murrigunyah Family and Cultural Healing Centre will be holding their annual candle lighting vigil via Facebook. They will be launching virtual tours of their services in Logan and Redlands via their website and Facebook. The Centre Against Sexual Violence will also be distributing coasters with the theme of Ask, Listen, Respect throughout the community. You can find out more here.

Women’s Legal Service Queensland are holding a webinar about the Sexual Assault Counselling Privilege on 28 October 2020 at 1:00pm for community service providers in Queensland. You can register to attend here.

Finally, congratulations to all the recipients of the 2020 Sexual Violence Prevention Grants. They include a range of innovative and practical projects that will happen across the state. You can find out more here.

1. Facts and figures informing this article are taken from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS). (2018). Are we there yet? Australians’ attitudes towards violence against women and gender equality: Summary findings from the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) (Research to policy and practice, 03/2018). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS.

by MandyHF

Cultural consciousness essential for change

Cultural consciousness essential for change

By Lee Fagan

The following is the second in a series in which we will be exploring cultural consciousness and what it means for our sector.

As a student of the Australian public school system in the 1980s, I was fascinated by the stories of the early Australian explorers and how they braved the outback and the wilds of Australia to forge new routes across the land for the progress of Australia’s economy and eventual national identity.

I was plied with textbook stories in my Australian history and social studies classes of how these explorers and surveyors who were acting in the national interests had to contend with extreme weather and survival conditions whilst combating the ‘savages’ or ‘natives’ of the land along the way.

This was a fantasy that many of us indulged in. Why?

Because we could.

The romanticisation of the First Australians into ‘the ‘other’ resulted in many Australians believing that they were hunter gatherers, nomads in a land where they roamed from coast to coast without check, a paradox who posed a mere hindrance to the advancement of society and progress at the time, despite being portrayed as a tangible threat.

Thankfully, after an extended period of social and national awareness in which significant events punctuated the Australian sense of identity and began bringing First Nations peoples into the Australian psyche (such as the formation of the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (1924), the Australian Aboriginal League (1934), the Aborigines Progressive Association (1937), the Day of Mourning and Protest (1938) and the 1967 Referendum etc.), it became apparent that First Nations peoples were not hunter gathers with wanderlust or a bad case of boredom.

It was realised that they were nationals of their own accord in their own nations, with their own set of government, beliefs and society that managed to exist and thrive in the vast and diverse geography of Australia, with the ability to coalesce their contemporary interests into something more serving, often with impact.

The realisation in my teenage years of this was by increasingly significant social and cultural shifts as well as an increased media exposure on First Nations issues and events.

As an adult I looked back and realised not just how sanitised that era of primary school learning was for me, but it also made me realise how lacking my knowledge was on my other First Nations states throughout not just Queensland but also Australia.

Legacy

There are many turning points in our society for this change, many of which are modern-day responses to this misconception about Australia’s First Nations.

Some pivot points were the national and international social justice movements, an increase in First Nations advocates and champions who fought for rights and access for First Nations peoples. These campaigns were underpinned by the ever-changing political landscape, which saw conservative and liberal governments march interchangeably through our political junctures.

But I think there was a subtler change occurring amongst this sociopolitical tidal movement.

I think Australians in general wanted to become more invested in a relationship of mutual connection and understanding with the First Nations peoples.

Awareness

The concept of sharing is intrinsic in many First Nations cultures. The belief and practice that not one person owns something for themselves but shares all things for everyone is a central tenet of such communal societies.

I am not sure when the first formal cultural awareness course was incepted. I have tried to find when and where it happened, but time is too far gone to effectively pinpoint that period where it came into being and was delivered with certainty to a well-intentioned population.

What I can be sure of though is that cultural awareness in its simplest form was always present in our society. As long as there were people willing to understand and learn about First Nations cultures and their history, there were the champions and educators willing to share.

As I highlighted in my first piece, the purpose of cultural awareness is to create a space in which to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities with an understanding of the differences and issues that have impacted them.

Looking at how far we have come as a society from the fearmongering and exotification of the past, to willingly celebrating the highs of First Australians being represented on the world stage, certainly highlights the enthusiasm shown in learning and understanding about other cultures. It also shows us the road ahead for many of us who wish to engage with respect and humility with those who hold the legacy of past assumptions and misdirection that was imposed upon our First Nations forebears.

by MandyHF

Disputing tenancy database listings - new training this November

Disputing tenancy database listings - new training this November

No one who is listed on a tenancy database like TICA should remain on that list where the listing is due to domestic family violence.

Tenants Queensland’s DFV Sector Capacity Building Project can assist workers supporting women experiencing DFV with tenancy advice. The DFV Helpdesk provides specialist tenancy advice for DFV and related services with a dedicated phone advice line to support services working with women affected by DFV.

Online training is also available to assist workers to understand their options when it comes to disputing tenancy database listings. Join us for two upcoming training sessions this November by submitting an Expression of Interest form here.    

A person can apply to the tribunal to have a tenancy database listing removed where it is unjust under the circumstances. Listings arising from domestic and family violence are certainly considered unjust. This involves an application to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and a small filing fee, which can be waived in cases of financial hardship.

Earlier this year, project worker Rose Brown worked with a specialist DFV worker from a High-Risk Team on behalf of Sarah.* One of the ways her partner exerted control in the relationship was by insisting Sarah was always the one to sign the tenancy agreement for their rental property. She was listed on TICA due to a debt for damage he had caused. Sarah had even paid the debt but the TICA listing remained.

Sarah was staying at a women’s shelter and would have been able to afford rent in the private rental market but was refused a rental property continually because of the TICA listing. With a long waiting list for social housing, Sarah did not have a lot of options for more permanent accommodation.

Together with Amelia* the High-Risk Team worker, Rose prepared the application to the tribunal, drafted statements, suggested evidence and drafted a letter of support. Amelia and Sarah organised a copy of the TICA listing from another local service, sourced copies of receipts and other evidence. Sarah made copies of the application and submitted it to the local courthouse. The agent then contacted Sarah and removed the listing without the need for a hearing.

It’s always worth disputing a listing – sometimes agents are not interested in attending hearings and the woman has a good chance of getting an order to have the listing removed.

If you are supporting any clients who have a tenancy database listing or are concerned about a listing, please contact Rose on 3708 4833 or send an email to roseb@tenantsqld.org.au

*Names changed for the purposes of this article

Tenants Queensland free state-wide advice service for tenants

1300 744 263

Advice hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm Monday to Friday

Extended hours: to 7:00pm Tuesday and Wednesday

by MandyHF

Action Learning for Inclusion with Daile Kelleher, CEO at Children by Choice

Action Learning for Inclusion with Daile Kelleher, CEO at Children by Choice

Recently WorkUP Queensland had the opportunity to speak to Daile Kelleher, Chief Executive Officer at Children by Choice. Below are some highlights from our yarn about her involvement in the ongoing Action Learning for Inclusion process.

WorkUP Queensland: What drew your interest to take part in the action learning process?

Daile: Two of our staff attended the ‘Same, Same but Different’ forums on inclusion and thought it was a process that was an incredibly valuable opportunity for learning. We saw that it needed to be taken seriously by leadership. I made the decision to come on board. It’s a commitment as an organisation, it’s a long-term thing.

WorkUP Queensland: Tell us about the project you will be working on as part of the action learning process.

Daile: We are doing our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). We had talked about this as important and realised it takes resources and time. We wondered how we do it in the best possible way and with a small workforce. We’ve already formed an internal working group and talked to the management committee about their involvement and commitment. The next few months will be about reflecting on what we do currently. We want to have the foundations down for a draft RAP… to consider submitting to Reconciliation Queensland.

WorkUP Queensland: Describe how your service will look when you have paved the way for greater inclusivity?

Daile: For us it’s about the resources, education, access and awareness raising. We are the only ‘all options pregnancy service’ – in this way we are unique. All our outwards-facing resources need to be culturally safe and supportive.

WorkUP Queensland: How do you plan to celebrate the success of your project?

Daile: Weaving it into what we do would be a success. Celebrating the formative stages of moving forward but also making it part of core business and embedding this way of working.

Thank you to all those involved in our action learning – we hope to continue sharing their stories.

by MandyHF

Join us this Children’s Week

Join us this Children’s Week

Children’s week is held annually on the fourth Wednesday of October. The Children’s Week Council of Australia strongly advocates for and promotes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The theme this year is based around article 15 which states:

‘Children have the right to meet with other children and young people and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights.’

In total there are 54 articles in the Convention. One of the most basic human rights principles is the right to live free from the threat of violence. Article 19 of the UNCRC articulates this right for every child and obliges States Parties to take appropriate measures to protect the child from all forms of violence.

In recognition of the rights of the child and to support their safety, WorkUP Queensland is hosting an upcoming series, Supporting Safety: Children and young people in the gendered violence context in collaboration with Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research. You can register for these workshops here.

Being familiar with the UNCRC can support our work within the revised practice standards for the domestic and family violence sector. The revised practice standards are informed by theoretical frameworks of social justice, where we seek better outcomes for victims of violence, including children, and human rights approaches that encourage the knowing and claiming of rights.

by MandyHF

We're hiring

Project Officer – WorkUP Queensland

by MandyHF