Local domestic and family violence program expands

On Thursday, 26 September, Wentworth Healthcare, provider of the Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network, together with Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman MP, were proud to launch the expansion of the Care and Connect domestic and family violence program to include sexual violence and child sexual abuse.

The Care and Connect Program, funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care, through the Supporting Primary Care response to Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Pilot initiative, supports primary healthcare professionals working in the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Lithgow and Penrith areas to identify, respond and support victim-survivors.

Research conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. A report by the Special Taskforce on Domestic Violence in Queensland has identified many of those impacted by domestic, family and sexual violence seek support from a health professional as the first point of contact, with some GPs estimated to be seeing one to two women per week who have been impacted by these issues.

Wentworth Healthcare CEO, Lizz Reay, said despite statistics, sexual violence and child sexual abuse often goes unreported. She said that and the expansion launch was an opportunity to talk about the prevalence of sexual violence and child sexual abuse within the community, and to highlight how Care and Connect can support primary healthcare professionals and by extension, their patients.

“It is important that primary healthcare professionals are supported to identify the signs and to respond appropriately to patients impacted by sexual violence and child sexual abuse as in some cases, they may be the first point of contact for victim-survivors,” she said.

“For many health professionals, when they undertook their training the issue of domestic, family and sexual violence was not covered in any depth. While times are changing in the health education sector, there is sometimes a gap of knowledge for clinicians in this area. This program plans to address this by giving health professionals the tools to ask patients the right questions and the confidence that they have the resources to support any patients impacted,” she said.

Ms Reay explained the Care and Connect Program delivers a two-pronged approach. Firstly, providing training to primary healthcare professionals including GPs, practice nurses, practice staff and others, and secondly providing Care and Connect Linkers through Relationships Australia NSW who primary healthcare professionals can seek advice from or refer patients to.

“Care and Connect Linkers are specially trained domestic, family and sexual violence, including child sexual abuse, support workers who can help support victim-survivors to navigate what can sometimes be an overwhelming process,” she said.

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