|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Issue 367 // Institute Inbrief
|
|
Dear <<First Name>>,
Welcome to Edition 367 of Institute Inbrief. Domestic and family violence is a pattern of abusive behaviour that involves one person seeking to control and dominate another person. We explore this topic in this edition's featured article.
Also in this edition:
- 2021 Suicide Prevention Summit
- A Case of Lost Direction
- Challenges of Single-parent Families Due to Death or Separation
- How Healthy Intimacy is Developed
- Quotations, Seminar Timetables & More!
Enjoy your reading!
Kind regards,
Sandra Poletto
CEO, Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors.
|
|
Diploma of Counselling
Join one of the most personally enriching careers.
There is no more rewarding way to help others than by providing emotional support that assists people get their lives back on track.
AIPC is the largest provider of counselling courses in the country. We have specialised in counsellor training for over 30 years. We have proudly helped over 55,000 people from 27 countries pursue their personal and career interests in counselling.
Our Diploma of Counselling is a journey of self-discovery, providing deep insight into why you think and behave as you do. And when you graduate, you will be extremely well prepared to pursue a career in counselling – employed or self-employed – enjoying our strong industry reputation and linkage.
As a Counsellor you will:
- Be truly passionate about what you do.
- Help people every day overcome challenges and lead better lives.
- Enjoy job security in one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country.
- Have the freedom of owning your own business.
Ready to start your Counselling journey, <<First Name>>?
LEARN MORE 
|
|
Community Services Courses
Helping You Help Your Community
By gaining a qualification within the Community Services sector, you will be contributing to an industry that serves a very important purpose: to assist those with personal or relationship challenges. There is nothing more fulfilling than helping others overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. And there’s no better time to do that than now!
Diploma of Mental Health - learn more
Gain knowledge and skills to provide services to those with mental health concerns.
Diploma of Financial Counselling - learn more
Do you want to help others who are facing financial hardship?
Diploma of Community Services (Case Management) - learn more
Join one of the fastest growing employment sectors in the country!
Diploma of Youth Work - learn more
Do you want to positively influence the next generation?
Bachelor of Human Services - learn more
A flexible and affordable alternative to traditional tertiary education.
LEARN MORE
|
|
2021 Suicide Prevention Summit
Join Australia's largest online suicide prevention conference for mental health and community service professionals.
If you work in mental health and community services, this is a must-not miss event.
The 2022 Suicide Prevention Summit brings together 15 highly respected experts on suicide prevention into one specialised event.
The Summit covers a broad range of topics, including clinical interventions; assessment tools; lived experience; Aboriginal & TSI mental health; men’s, youth, elderly & LGBTIQ+ suicide prevention.
Registration is entirely free – or just $10 to enjoy extra perks, including extended access to session recordings, slides & post-session notes. And all content is streamed online.
You can learn more and register here:
www.mentalhealthacademy.com.au/suicideprevention
If you have any questions about the Summit, please contact Mental Health Academy's friendly support team on help@mentalhealthacademy.com.au.
LEARN MORE
AIPC Upskill Micro-Credentials
Our digitally badged short course micro-credentials will provide you with new skills and a deeper understanding in a range of important areas.
Each program is carefully crafted to enhance your personal and professional development. Each short course micro-credential is between 20 and 40 hours of deep, rich, learning. Learn more about each program by clicking the links below:
- Creative and Critical Thinking
- Working with Mental Health
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
- Working with Adolescents
- Mental Wellbeing in the Workplace
- Diverse Genders and Sexualities
- Working with Children
LEARN MORE
|
|
What is Domestic and Family Violence?
Domestic and family violence is a pattern of abusive behaviour that involves one person seeking to control and dominate another person. Domestic and family violence is not always physical – it can involve a range of different forms of abuse (see below) (The National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Counselling Service, 2021; Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria, 2021a, 2021). Domestic and family violence is not the same as conflict.
“Family violence refers to a diverse range of abusive and controlling behaviours, physical and non-physical, that make a victim feel fearful, intimidated and often helpless. These behaviours establish and maintain a debilitating imbalance of power relations that violates victims, subverting their autonomy and constraining their lives” (Attorney-General’s Department, 2013).
Domestic and family violence can occur in a range of different relationships including relationships between family members and ‘family-like’ relationships, such as:
- Boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives and partners
- Ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, ex-husbands, ex-wives and former partners
- Parents (or stepparents) and children
- Siblings
- People with disabilities and their carers
- ‘Families of choice’ for LGBTIQ people
- People within cultural kinship networks in multicultural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (The National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Counselling Service, 2021; Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria, 2021; Domestic Violence Victoria, 2021).
A word about language
In this article we distinguish between family violence and domestic violence in the following way:
Family violence is as an umbrella term that incorporates any type of violence that occurs between family members, including violence between current and former intimate partners.
Domestic violence is a subset of violence that refers specifically to violence between current and former intimate partners. It is also referred to as ‘intimate partner violence’ (Mission Australia, 2021).
The term ‘family violence’ is used in recognition of the fact that violence can be perpetrated by and against any member of the family, including parents, grandparents, adult children and siblings. Furthermore, the Women and Children’s Family Violence Counselling and Support Programs (Grealy et al, 2008) states that: “the term ‘family violence’ is more culturally relevant to Indigenous communities in which close kinship relationships extend far beyond the nuclear (domestic) family model” (p. 11).
The term ‘domestic violence’ also recognizes that violence can be perpetrated by non-family members, such as carers of people with disability, in the home environment (Grealy et al, 2008).
Domestic and family violence is common in Australia and, indeed, across the world (Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre, 2021). Globally, more than 640 million women aged 15 and over have experienced intimate partner violence (UN Women, 2021). The most recent statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) indicate the following:
- 1 in 6 women (17% or 1.6 million women) in Australia have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or intimate partner since the age of 15.
- 1 in 4 women (23% or 2.2 million women) in Australia have experienced emotional abuse by a current or intimate partner since the age of 15.
- 1 in 16 men (6.1% or 548,000 men) in Australia have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or intimate partner since the age of 15.
- 1 in 6 men (16% or 1.4 million men) in Australia have experienced emotional abuse by a current or intimate partner since the age of 15.
Victim or survivor?
People who experience domestic and family violence are often referred to as ‘victims.’ However, advocates see this term as disempowering; many people prefer the term “survivor of domestic and family violence” rather than “victim of domestic and family violence.”
A common term used within specialist domestic and family violence services is ‘victim-survivor.’ We also use the term ‘victim-survivor’ in this article. The term respects people’s choice to identify as either a ‘victim’ or a ‘survivor’ (or both) and also acknowledges that domestic and family violence is a process that involves victimization and survival (Domestic Violence NSW, 2020).
As the statistics above indicate, domestic and family violence is a gendered issue. This means that within intimate partner relationships and family contexts, violence is mainly perpetrated by men against women and children. Domestic and family violence has an unequal impact upon women, and it is the most prevalent form of violence experienced by women in Australia (Toivonen & Backhouse, 2018).
Domestic and family violence in Australia
In countries such as Australia, domestic and family violence was – up until recently – widely viewed as a private issue to be kept within the family. Many people in Australia believed that husbands had a right to ‘reprimand’ or ‘punish’ their wives.
Piper and Stevenson (2019) argue that a range of mainstream Australian values have made it difficult to address the causes of domestic and family violence in Australia. These include the idea that men need to be “physically and mentally tough” – and the valorisation of the “hyper-masculine man.” These ideas and values normalise male aggression. Male aggression has also been viewed as something that women are responsible for managing (Piper & Stevenson, 2019).
The Women’s Liberation movement played a key role in bringing attention to and raising awareness of domestic and family violence (Piper & Stevenson, 2019). During the 1960s and 1970s, women’s groups began to set up refuges for women seeking to escape violence.
Goldsworthy and Raj (2014) state that since the recognition of the concept of domestic and family violence in the 1980s, “the concept of domestic violence and its associated harms has evolved into a complex criminal justice issue” in Australia. Although it began by simply recognising physical violence within married relationships, domestic violence legislation now recognises different types of domestic and family violence within a range of different types of relationships, as well as the far-reaching and diverse harms of domestic and family violence.
Domestic and family violence in Australia is now widely recognised as a significant social problem with serious and harmful effects. Governments at the Commonwealth, state and territory level have implemented legislative and non-legislative measures to respond to domestic and family violence (Attorney General’s Department, 2021). Issues relating to domestic and family violence are acknowledged in the Family Law Act (1975) and the Commonwealth and states/territories share responsibility for laws in place to address domestic and family violence (Higgins & Kaspiew, 2011; Parliament of Victoria, 2021).
A cornerstone of Commonwealth and state and territory governments’ response to domestic and family violence is the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (2010-2022) (The National Plan), which was endorsed by Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2011. The 12-year plan, due to end in 2022, has been delivered through four three-year action plans.
Among the general public in Australia there is also much greater public acknowledgement of the existence and harmful impacts of domestic and family violence than there once was.
“Whilst Family Violence is still happening behind closed doors, the conversations aren’t. We are now having deep, confronting conversations, the ones we really need to have. In the home, workplace, and amongst our political parties.” – Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year.
Greater attention to domestic and family violence in print and broadcast media, especially in relation to high profile cases of domestic and family violence, continue to draw attention to the existence and reality of domestic and family violence in Australia (Sutherland et al, 2016). Prominent victim-survivor advocates such as Rosie Batty have played a key role in shifting the discourse surrounding domestic and family violence in Australia (Hawley et al, 2017).
Community attitudes towards domestic and family violence are also changing. The latest National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) survey indicates that Australians are less likely to hold attitudes that support violence towards women when compared to 2013 and 2009. Knowledge about domestic and family violence also improved between 2013 and 2017. However, there are also some concerning trends. For example, the latest NCAS survey (published in 2017) indicated that four in ten Australians mistrust women’s reports of sexual violence (Minter et al, 2021).
The increased focus on domestic and family violence will hopefully lead more victim-survivors to seek out support. Therefore, it is important that counsellors are aware of the many different complexities involved in this topic.
Editor's Note: AIPC soon be releasing an Upskill Micro-Credential on Recognising and Responding to Domestic and Family Violence. AIPC also offers the Graduate Diploma of Relationship Counselling which contains three units about making safety plans, counselling those affected by domestic and family violence, as well as managing responses to domestic and family responses.
References:
- Attorney General’s Department. (2021). Family Violence. Retrieved from: Website.
- Domestic Violence NSW. (2020). Good practice guidelines for the domestic and family violence sector in NSW. Retrieved from: Website.
- Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria. (2021). What is domestic violence? Retrieved from: Website.
- Domestic Violence Victoria. (2021). About Family Violence. Retrieved from: Website.
- Goldsworthy, T., & Raj, M. (2015). We must ensure that domestic violence awareness yields results.
- The Conversation. Retrieved from: Website.
- Grealy, C., Humphreys, C., Milward, K., and Power, J. (2008). Practice guidelines: women and children's family violence counselling and support program, Department of Human Services, Victoria. Retrieved from: Website.
- Hawley, E., Clifford, K., & Conkes, C. (2017). The ‘Rosie Batty effect’ and the framing of family violence in Australian news media. Journalism Studies, 19(15). doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2017.1343096.
- Higgins, D., & Kaspiew, R. (2011). Child protection and family law… Joining the dots (NCPC Issues No. 34). National Child Protection Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Family Studies. Retrieved from: Website.
- Minter, K., Carlisle, E., & Coumarelos, C. (2021). “Chuck her on a lie detector” – Investigating Australians’ mistrust in women’s reports of sexual assault (Research report, 04/2021). ANROWS. Retrieved from: Website.
- Mission Australia. (2021). Types of domestic violence abuse. Retrieved from: Website.
- Parliament of Victoria. (2021). Chronology of current family and domestic violence legislation in Australia (Research Note No. 5). Retrieved from: Website.
- Piper, A., & Stevenson, A. (2019). The long history of gender violence in Australia, and why it matters today. The Conversation. Retrieved from: Website.
- Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre. (2021). Family violence myths and facts. Retrieved from: Website.
- Sutherland, G., McCormack, A., Pirkis, J., Vaughan, C., Dunne-Breen, M., Easteal, P., & Holland, K. (2016). Media representations of violence against women and their children: Final report (ANROWS Horizons, 03/2016). Retrieved from: Website.
- The National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Counselling Service. (2021). Domestic and Family Violence. Retrieved from: Website.
- Toivonen, C., & Backhouse, C. (2018). National Risk Assessment Principles for domestic and family violence (ANROWS Insights 07/2018). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS.
- UN Women. (2021). Facts and figures: Ending violence against women. Retrieved from: Website.
|
|
A Case of Lost Direction
Jenny has come to counselling due to strong feelings of dissatisfaction with her life. She is 48 years old, unemployed and does not hold much hope of employment in the future. She has worked in the past at restaurants, in pubs and as a cleaner at a Motel. She said that she could not see any positive changes in her future and was concerned that she would live out her days caring for her son, having little income and no sense of direction. She felt that she lacked any control over her life and was just “marking time”. Jenny came to counselling because she wanted to find out about herself and to find her direction.
READ MORE
|
|
Challenges of Single-parent Families Due to Death or Separation
In this article we will explore challenges faced by single-parent families due to death or separation, embarking from an exploration of the functions of the family and dynamics of transition, we set foot in exploring the challenges faced by the parent and children in such families. It is possible for the family to adapt and grow, but it isn’t easy. Much work is needed on the part of all, and correspondingly, there is much scope for your input if you would contribute social support to such a family.
READ MORE
More articles: www.aipc.net.au/articles
|
|
MHA Credential Courses
Take a deep-dive with some of the world’s leading mental health & wellbeing experts. Learn new skills. Connect with peers. Earn a Digital Credential.
MHA Credential Courses are self-paced, deep-dive, content-rich (20+ hours of learning) programs led by internationally-renowned experts.
Each course is meticulously crafted and contains a range of learning resources including video lectures, peer-reviewed articles, case studies, workbooks, assessments, practical activities, and more. Credentials are 100% self-paced and accessible on-demand, so learners can start at any time and progress at their own pace.
Upon completion of an MHA Credential Course, you are issued with an MHA Digital Badge (an internationally-verifiable digital credential) and a professional development (CPD) Certificate of Attainment.
Currently offered MHA Credential Courses include:
- Disaster Mental Health Counselling
- Applied Positive Psychology: Finding Mastery & Flourishing
- Science and Practice of Wellbeing
- Evidence-based Parenting: Raising Children to Thrive
LEARN MORE
|
|
Have you visited Counselling Connection yet? Our official blog has over 500 posts counselling, psychology, self-growth, and more! Make sure you too get connected. Below is a link to one of our popular blog posts.
How Healthy Intimacy is Developed
Intimacy is one of the main ingredients of a successful, ‘ideal’ relationship along with passion and commitment. Intimacy is a journey — it is not a tangible thing. It takes place over time, is ever-changing and is not stagnant. In fact, any kind of stagnation in a relationship may damage intimacy. It is important in the counselling process to have an understanding of how intimacy develops in a relationship as well as some of the factors that could potentially be harmful to the development of it.
READ MORE
More posts: www.counsellingconnection.com
|
|
"Not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do is the secret of happiness."
~ J. M. Barrie
|
|
Many students of the Diploma of Counselling attend seminars to complete the practical requirements of their course. Seminars provide an ideal opportunity to network with other students and liaise with qualified counselling professionals in conjunction with completing compulsory coursework.
Seminar topics include:
- The Counselling Process
- Communication Skills I
- Communication Skills II
- Counselling Therapies I
- Counselling Therapies II
- Legal & Ethical Frameworks
- Brief Interventions and Loss & Grief Support
- Individualised Support and Working with Mental Health
- Advanced Counselling Techniques
Click here to access all seminar timetables online.
To register for a seminar, please contact your Student Support Centre.
|
|
|
For more information, visit:
|
|
|
Sign up to Australia's most popular FREE e-magazine
|
|
|
If you are not already on the mailing list for Institute Inbrief, please subscribe below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
