Fourth week Melbourne

Besides being bitten by a spider, which was quite painful, I’ve had a great week in Melbourne.

I had a lovely weekend with my daughter and Son in Law and met up with family I haven’t seen for 14 years, all in all a jolly weekend.

I’ve had a busy week, I have met up with fantastic people who are totally committed to improving the journey through the criminal justice system for victims of rape and sexual abuse.

The first day I went to the Department of Public Prosecution. It took quite a lot organising and form filling before they would agree to see me.

I was due to meet up with The manager of the Witness Assistance Services (WAS) and two of the social workers.

Unfortunately The Manager’s daughter was sick so she was off work. In the end I only met up with one social worker because the other one was in court.

Marnie, The social worker that I did meet was extremely helpful and probably provided me with all the information I needed.

The Witness assistance services is part of the Office of Public Prosecution, they assist victims and witnesses of serious crime throughout the prosecution process. It is slightly similar to the ISVA service but not independent and not as comprehensive.

On the other days I joined up with Natalie Hall (Director Parkerville Children and Youth Care) who I had met in Perth. Also joining us were; Jen Hoffman. (Commissioner Victims of Crime), John McTernan (Detective Sergeant, Child Abuse Squad) and Cheryl Barnett Executive Director, Child Protection and Family Support.

They had all come over from Perth and, like me, they were interested in finding out more about the Multi Disciplinary Teams. They had already set up appointments and were happy for me to muscle in on their meetings.

Here we all are with Carolyn from SECASA at the Multidisciplinary Centre in Dandenong

 

Multidisciplinary Centers (MDCs) involve multiple agencies working collaboratively to provide an integrated and holistic response to victims of sexual assault from a single location. Better integration and co-location of various agencies has the capacity to significantly improve the response to sexual offending.

Co-located specialist professionals include:

 *   Victoria Police Sexual Offences Child Abuse Investigation Teams    
 *   Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Protection
 *   Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASA) Counsellors/Advocates.

Information provided by Carolyn Worth SECASA (Centre Against Sexual Violence)

The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) in 2004 handed down 202 recommendations in a Sexual Offences: Law and Procedure Final Report.  The Victorian Government response to the VLRC’s recommendations was to develop a whole of government strategy and allocate, in the 2006-2007 State budget, $34.2 million over 4 years aimed at reforming the way the criminal justice system responded to sexual assault.  $6 million was provided for the creation of a pilot project of two Multidisciplinary Centers one rural and one metro based.  An evaluation was conducted by Deakin University. The purpose of these Centers was to deliver integrated justice and human services responses by bringing together one of the newly created 27 Victoria Police Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams (SOCIT) with a sexual assault center.  Child Protection workers were added into the model later.

We visited 3 MDC’s

Dandenong Opened October 2014

Seaford (previous pilot site of Frankston 2007) Opened 2012

           

Barwon (Geelong) Opened July 2012

All three MDC’s that we visited had incredible purpose built centres. The buildings had no signage for anonymity.

We met up with many MDC Managers and Staff during visits. All of them said they had found the MDC concept difficult at first but they all agreed that they wouldn’t want to go back to working separately as it was before.  

  

Benefits Articulated by MDC Managers and Staff during visit;

·      Coordinated care for victims

·      Timely response

·      Increased reporting of sexual offences ( 25% in Barwon)

·      Accessibility of services

·      Increased referrals

·      Victims understand and are kept appraised of the legal status of their case

·      Minimises the number of service providers

·      Dignity and respect throughout the process

·      Options talks – if victim in counselling expresses interest in talking to police, SOCIT member is invited to join in session and discuss options

·      Outcome talks – if not enough evidence to proceed SOCIT and Counsellor meet with victims together, SOCIT provides info on decision and Counsellor support

It’s been a fantastic week. I’ve leaned loads and I never cease to be amazed by how hospitable the Australians are.

I’m off to Sydney next week. I’m hopefully going to find out more about the Royal Commission into Institutional Childhood Sexual Abuse.  

I'm having the most amazing time. I'm not only learning about the issue, I'm also learning loads about myself ! 

Third week

I’ve been in Brisbane all week. Once a got over the initial nervousness of driving on different roads and got used to the strange driving habits of the Australians, I really enjoyed driving around in the sunshine.

It’s been a much better week. I’ve been to some third sector organisations and met some wonderful people. I’m feeling much more inspired and I am starting to understand the benefit of coming to Australia.

I met up with Di Macleod who is CEO of The Gold Coast Action Against Sexual Violence organisation. The Centre is very similar to Arch although they seem to have a much better Government funding arrangement than we do in the UK.

Di and I really bonded, we realised that there were many similarities between our organisations and we felt that we could learn a lot from each other. We are thinking about setting up an international sister organisation partnership, where we could share good practice and potentially set up a staff exchange scheme.  It all sounds quite exciting.

I visited the Southport Courthouse and met up with the team from the Domestic Violence Court. I also met Natalie Walker-Winmill who is the Court Victim Liaison officer. This is a similar role to witness care.

I was also introduced to Judy Geary one of the Public Prosecutors. It was great to see that the Gold Coast Centre had a really positive relationship with the Court staff. It was very clear that victim care was the top of everyone’s agenda.

I visited a Centre on the outskirts of Brisbane, The Centre Against Sexual Violence, another third sector organisation. I met the lead Counsellor Joyce. She was doing some interesting work around sexual abuse and older people. This is an area that we haven’t explored in any depth. Joyce has inspired me to follow up this area of work on my return.

Well at the end of my third week I am feeling very positive and motivated. I’m looking forward to an exciting week in Melbourne; I have some interesting meetings planned. In Melbourne they are currently piloting a scheme where multi disciplinary teams have been co-located to the same venue, creating a one-stop-shop for victims of sexual violence. It will be fascinating to find out how all that works.

Before I do any more visits I’m planning to have a relaxing weekend with my daughter who lives in Melbourne.

Second week
By the  second week  I was running round Perth like a local , getting on buses and trains with no problems. Until I was running for a train and......pop .... Something went ping in my leg and it was extremely  painful.
I hobbled back into Perth and found a medical centre where the medic told me I had torn a calf muscle. He said it would take two weeks to heal. Imagine my joy! . Again, colleagues in Perth were amazing , they came to pick me up and gave me lifts to meetings, so I didn't miss anything .
I had quite a difficult few meetings with police, the culture is so different from the UK. I found it all a little upsetting. But I am learning to change my interview style ,I thought I was being helpful telling them how we supported victims in the UK but soon realised that they are not really interested in how or what we do. I had to remember that I'm not here to change the world. So in future I will try to only ask questions and do lots of listening.
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Pip Brennan, a survivor  and author,  she has been working for years trying to improve services for survivors of SV in Perth. I have to admire her persistence.
I wasn't sad to be leaving Perth, although I had met some great people who I'm sure I will keep in touch with.
On Friday I   took an overnight flight to Brisbane. Trying to pick up my hire car at 5 in the morning was a little challenging, but by 7am I was in the car heading for Brisbane. Well,  only I could manage to arrive in Brisbane in the middle of the G20. Police everywhere, roads closed , diversions , traffic jams, helicopters, the works.... Me and all the world leaders converging on Brisbane at the same time.  Needless to say, it took quite a while to find my hotel and I was starting to feel the effects of  the lack of sleep on the overnight flight,but I got there eventually and was presently surprised at how nice the hotel was and the added bonus, it has a pool ...
I've had a chance to do a little exploring and Brisbane seems like a lovely place. I'm here till Friday. I am only meeting third sector organisations , most of them quite a long drive from Brisbane.  I  think this will be a better week, not so challenging I think. And the weather is amazing.  Also my leg is much better and I,m managing to walk ok now.

First week in Perth 07/11/14 

I can't belive that I'm at the end of my first week in Australia. I've had an amazing first week , I've met up with Head of Police Sex Crimes division  for Western Australia, the Director of Public Prosicutions ( Amanda Burrows) for Western Australia and I've been to visit Nat Hall the CEO of a wonderful voluntary sector agency in Armadail called the George Jones Centre, I was very jelous of their building. 

My main impressions have been just how friendly and helpful the Australians are the Head of Sex Crimes  Sue Young has let me stay in her house and use her car whilst she's away..... Unbelievable. 

I have found it quite challenging, finding my way around and managing to turn up at meeting in random places at the right time . I seem to have cracked the bus system  but next week I will have to use Sue's car as I've arranged meeting out of town. From what I've seen so far there doesn't seem to be much structure to the driving , it appears that you can drive in any lane at whatever speed you like! 

As far as the research goes, I haven't had any light bulb moments  yet, but let's see what next week brings. 

I'm off to Cottesloe beach and Fremantle at the weekend 

Last lunch with my fantastic team

First Blog                                                                                                      22/10/14

11 days till I get on the plane to start my amazing adventure.

I am working hard to get everything finalised at work so that I leave things as organised as I can.
I have an amazing team and feel sure the organisation is in safe hands. They probably wont even realise that I've gone.

I have loads of meetings already arranged in Australia. I am traveling to Perth, Brisbane,  Melbourne and  Sydney, then over to New Zealand to  Christchurch and Auckland. Lets hope I come back with some interesting and initiative ideas to help support victims of sexual violence.