Module 6: Responding to domestic, family and sexual violence

So before we begin, we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which we are meeting you, joining you from today. So I am joining from the lands of the Quandamooka people. And I am on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country today And we would like to pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.

So some of the content we will be referencing today describes experiences of violence, so we ask everybody to prioritize their wellbeing and please take a break or step away if you need to. 1-800-RESPECT is a nationwide service that can provide confidential counseling or opportunities for debriefing.

Their phone number is 1-800-737-732. So we have developed a workbook which has been designed for you to use throughout the training. I hope that this workbook will allow you to apply some of the knowledge you learned today, but also reflect on your work and your practice. So you can download this workbook from the Wild website next to where you’ve accessed this training video, and we will prompt you along the way when it’s time to turn to your workbook and answer the questions.

So we ask that you pause the video, complete the questions, and then continue on after you’ve had a chance to complete your workbook. So what will we talk about in module six today? So we’re gonna be totally giving you some tips around what you can say, what you can do if somebody starts to disclose an experience of domestic, family, or sexual violence.

We will share some information around things to consider when making referrals. We will talk a little bit about the impacts domestic, family, and sexual violence has on people’s lives, and we’ll be providing some information around looking after yourself, as we know that working with people who’ve experienced trauma can be very emotionally difficult, so it’s important that we look after ourselves in order to provide the best support we can.

And just a quick note on language, as always, just reminding you that we will be using a combination of person first language and identity first language, because people have different preferences. neither is right or wrong. Just make sure that you are using the preferred terms that an individual would like you to use.

So responding to domestic, family, and sexual violence. So we have a quote, from a lived experience stakeholder. So they have said they are more likely to drop one piece of information to see how that is responded to. And then if it is not responded to correctly, there might not be other disclosure.

You have one opportunity to respond in the right way. So I think this quote really highlights how important it is to have an understanding around how to respond after a disclosure of violence, as if a person receives a response that isn’t helpful, shuts them down, or makes them feel shame, they may not, decide to ever disclose again.

However, I want to say that if somebody does try and disclose violence to you, and you feel you haven’t responded in the way that you would like to, there’s always an opportunity to go back and have another discussion. So we will be providing some information about how to respond in a trauma-informed way.

but just to acknowledge that we are human, we do make mistakes, and please, if you feel like you haven’t, done the best that you would have liked to have done, reach out to that person and, have another discussion. So disclosures of violence. So before we get into what to do, I think it’s really important to consider how someone may choose to disclose an experience of violence, and it may not happen as you would expect.

In my experience, people are more likely to disclose experiences of violence when they are feeling comfortable, perhaps when they’re not looking directly at you, when there’s an activity at hand. this might be when you’re driving. the example I’ve had here actually is driving or doing the dishes, as they’re both times, at wild that I’ve had somebody do…

disclose an experience of sexual violence to me. They may not be shared in an expected way or sequence. So the way that somebody describes violence might not be linear from start to finish. The person might share something in the middle and, seem to move backwards and forwards. And we know that this is because trauma, imp- can impact memory, the way we remember the experience, and of course, sharing information itself can be quite distressing.

so the advice here would be to really pa- be really patient, not to interrupt, and let the person, try and gather their thoughts and, share as, best they can. It may also be half shared to see how you will react, so that’s going back to that quote that we just heard about someone perhaps saying something just to see how you will respond.

so of course, we always need to be believing when somebody disclose violence and show with our body language that we are listening, and that we are there to support It may not be shared completely in one sitting. So someone might share a little bit of what’s happened, but may not be ready to disclose everything.

So it might be, a couple weeks later or within the next time you support that person that you’re hearing a little bit more. And again, this can be, because of a lot of reasons. The person might not be ready to share the other pieces of information. They might be, again, seeing how you respond before they, they share more.

So again, that, letting that person see that you are a safe person who wants to support may help them feel, that they can continue to share the, other parts of their experience. they may not use the correct words. for me, in, in my experience, I work with people who have an intellectual disability.

So some of the words that we think of, if you joined us for our domestic violence module, which was module three, so around sexual violence, coercive control, manipulation, jealousy, stalking. These types of words that we might link with domestic and family violence may not be words that the person would use to describe their experience.

I have an example that comes to mind of a woman And this wasn’t actually shared with me, but I heard through, other people that were supporting her, she was disclosing sexual harassment, that someone was sexually harassing her and, she, required support with this. And of course, sexual harassment is really serious and requires a response that, considers safety and what that person would like to do.

however, it turns out that this person was actually experiencing really violent sexual violence, however, wasn’t using the right words, so there wasn’t a, safety assessment made around what was happening there. so being aware that the way people describe their violence and the words they use may not be perhaps what we would expect.

so again, that’s, op- using open questions to try and find out more, where you feel that perhaps what they’re sharing isn’t quite, You’re having trouble understanding their experience. And may be shared accidentally. So it may be that the person shares something that has happened but hasn’t actually, thought of this as being violent or thought of this as being something of concern.

So that might be something like, “Oh, my partner, he always wants me to do this,” or, “I always have to check in with him,” or, “He did this last night.” And, so just candidly sharing information. so there again, we’d wanna be gently sharing our concern about what they have expressed and providing either some support around unpacking that or education around as to why that could be, something that’s not okay.

And if I can just jump on the end of that there, Jane. Yeah. I think- in particular, like you talked about trauma being encoded in the brain differently to a regular memory. Yeah. So it might, be patchy or not make sense as a whole, for example. but we also know that in particular, people with intellectual disability, when they disclose violence, because of the way they encode memories and recall them is different again.

they are less likely to be believed because the story doesn’t make sense to, the listener. Yeah So yeah, so just being super duper, open to what people are saying. And as, as we’ve said, lots of times, believe. Okay. So as Tess has shared, the first step at all times is start by believing the person, and treat the matter seriously.

Offer to try and find a private and comfortable place to talk. So we talked about this in our previous module around looking at physical safety, but also emotional safety. So allowing that person to feel safe within their environment to share what is going on for them. Ensure the person feels listened to.

So there’s lots of ways that we can ensure that someone feels listened to. So that might be using our body, making sure that we are looking at the person and using eye contact, using gestures to allow the person to see that, that we’re following, that we’re listening. because of course this is so important and, may increase the person’s confidence and feeling supported to share things that are really distressing As we’ve talked about, using open questions.

what has happened? Tell me a little bit more about that. So we don’t wanna be using yes or no questions, which could potentially shut things down. Or for somebody who’s having trouble understanding the question, it may be that they go along with what you were saying, because they are having difficulty, and may not wanting to appear stupid, or are just wanting, this to, t- for the questionings to stop.

So and we don’t use why questions. So why did you, why did that happen? So you can see that this could feel, quite blaming and dismissive. So again, could really shut down somebody if they’re thinking, “Oh, I… Now I’m being interrogated for something.” So of course, it isn’t our role to be detectives.

We’re not here to investigate. We’re here to listen and allow that person to share in their own time, and this might mean allowing pauses. It might mean allowing the person time to gather their thoughts and continue. So really trying to stay with that, not interrupting. And really, at this point, the person should be doing more of the speaking.

And where they’re listening, encouraging that person and providing prompts such as, “What has happened? Can… Do you feel like you can tell me a little bit more about that? yes.” So let them know that they, that, Hang on, let me start that again. let them know that you are glad that they told you.

You are really glad that they, felt safe enough to come and chat with you about that… “I, can understand that this can be really difficult to talk about. I’m really glad you’ve told me. Now we can work together to find, something that feels right to, for you, a solution to this, or look at some other options of support.”

and let them know that this is not their fault. So this might seem quite a, silly thing. So of course it’s not their fault. Why would I need to, share that? For many people who have been living with domestic and family violence or have had an experience of sexual fault- sexual assault, there can be deep shame around why this has happened.

“If only I didn’t do this,” or he has told the person that it is their fault. “This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t make me so angry.” And they might also be messages that they’re hearing in the community around, where they were, what they were doing, what they were wearing. And of course, we know that nobody ever deserves, to experience violence, and it is never the fault of the person.

But letting, reassuring that it is not their fault is really important at this point as well. Okay. So once that’s happened, it is time for you to respond, but we’re staying calm. We’re not going, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this is happening. Ah.” We’re, nice and calm, and we’re making sure that control stays with the person as much as possible.

Ask them what they would like to do. What would they like to happen next? And give them that space to think and respond. those silences when you’re waiting for a response, they feel like they’re going forever, but it’s really just been one or two seconds. Try and hold on, a bit longer to allow that time to process, to decide, to work out what they’re going to say.

We’re not interrupting. And also, if they are not sure what they want to do now, let them know that’s okay as well. We can work it out together. And as we’ve been saying, it is not your job to solve this problem in its entirety. we refer on, we refer to people who do this for a job and, know all the tricky bits and pieces.

So you can ask the person if they would like to talk to someone from a specialist domestic family and sexual violence service, about the different options they could take. you can explain what the different services do and how they could help the person and then the person might say, “Yep, great.

Let’s contact blah blah.” Or they might not quite be ready to seek external support yet. You can just let them know that you’re there whenever they are ready. and of course, you would need to let the person know if you have to, if you’re obliged to tell someone, your supervisor or whatever. and yeah, so let them know if you need to tell someone, and let them know what you will be doing next

What we are not doing, is we’re not minimizing the person’s experience. “Oh, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. Oh, I’m sure she only, she would never do something like that. it wasn’t that bad.” We’re not making excuses for the perpetrator. “Oh, they were just tired.” We’re not blaming the individual. And, this is something that we unfortunately still hear a lot, in our society.

“Oh, what was she wearing?” Or, “How much had he had to drink?” Or, all of these kinds of things. don’t take control away from the person. we know choice and control is always really important, for disabled people. It is doubly important for disabled people who have experienced these types of violence.

you are not doing for, you’re doing with. Don’t put words in the person’s mouth. And again, this one can be tricky if they’re struggling to, communicate what they need to because it is a difficult thing to communicate. but of course, if you’re finishing sentences or filling in blanks, you might be filling it in with the wrong thing and they might not have the energy left in them to say, “No, that’s not what I meant,” or whatever or they might not notice.

We’re just, we’re letting the person speak for themselves. And of course, believe, believe, means don’t assume that the person is lying to you. The statistics about making up, experiences of this kind of violence, it shows that it’s such a microscopic number of people that the odds that the person is, lying is, very slim.

So we always, trust the person and believe what they’re saying. We do also need to think about safety, of course. again, you are not the, savior coming in. You’re not going to confront the person using violence. This is obviously really risky to you and to, your client that you’re supporting. you also don’t want to be having conversations about violence in front of the person who is using violence.

again, that can antagonize them. It can cause problems after you leave for your, at the end of your shift for the person who is still there in the house with them. don’t put yourself at risk. we need to keep everyone safe and that definitely includes you. So just thinking through what would be the safe, calm, measured option to t- to do next that is within the scope of your work as a support worker.

And as well, it can be a really great thing to give people, for example, a brochure or, a fact sheet or something about, say, a domestic violence service or, information about different types of abuse or things like this. but it can actually be a safety risk for the person you’re supporting If the perpetrator using violence finds that, material, for example.

so it’s, best not to, have these things lying around the home where the other person could find them. in these cases perhaps you could, bring the brochures and things and, or the easy-read resources, whatever it is, show the person, talk about it together but then say, “I can look after these for you and I’ll bring them next time I come.”

Something like that. So throughout the module today and, through the last, five other modules that, you’ve joined us for, we have really talked about how important it is for the person to remain in control, for the person to be making their own decisions with the support of, you. However, there are times when you may need to act without the person’s consent, so we wanted to share what that might look like, some of those examples.

So of course, if the person has been seriously injured or is at risk of death and, you’d, you’ve witnessed something or they’re talking to you on the phone, we have a duty of care to call emergency services, and this might be not what the client is wanting in the moment. however, safety trumps that want of confidentiality.

So we would say, “Look, unfortunately, I, need to call triple zero. I’m really concerned about this.” If the person using violence is a worker employed to support the person, this is something that would need to be discussed with a supervisor and reported. in the ACT there is legislation around, people who are in a supportive role who are, caring for somebody who are using violence and withholding that information, is a, could, you could be prosecuted for not sharing that type of information.

If the person is a child, if you’re working with a child who is disclosing an experience of violence, that is not something that we can keep between … that is not something you can keep between you and the child. There are obligations to share that with other people to ensure that that child can be safe.

so that might be at a first point having a discussion with your supervisor, potentially notifying child protection or emergency services. You are concerned that the person has been really injured, and it, is really difficult in those moments to make an assessment. I’ve had times over the phone where somebody has called me, and it has been very difficult for me to assess what is going on.

There might be things going on in the background. The person’s unable to explain what has happened. They’re very distressed. They’ve said that they’re badly injured, and then something else happens. At that point, if you are really concerned and can’t make an assessment about that person’s safety, you may at that point also need to call emergency services If the person has a guardian or a decision-maker, and requires support to make decisions around their next options, around accommodation, around safety, this would be a discussion that you would need to have with somebody else, and potentially without that, person may not want you to do that.

But I think in these situations, it is around being clear as to why we’re making that decision, who we’re going to tell, what we’re going to tell, and inviting the person to be a part of that if they would want to. So again, we may need to be telling others. That doesn’t mean that the person is removed from the discussion.

We can support them to be a part of that discussion if they want to. If the person using violence is a guardian or a decision-maker, this is something that will need to be shared with somebody else. It, there may need to be an application with ACAT to have that person removed as that person’s guardian, and a whole lot of other decisions might need to be made around housing and then, and safety.

So this is another example of when we’d have to share with somebody else. And if you have spoken to that person, and in the moment you’re very concerned about their ability to make a decision, we know that decision-making is fluid, and it doesn’t mean, one, one day someone will be able to say and have the capacity to make a decision.

The next day, because of a variety of different things going on, trauma being one of them, they may be having a lot of difficulty making a decision. At that point, we may need to reach out to somebody else to support that person. So again, we’re always wanting to, work with that person, keep them in the center of all discussions, be transparent about who we’re sharing with and why.

however, we do need to consider people’s safety, and there might be times when there is an emergency response that is required. So I think I’ve already discussed this, and, hopefully if you’ve joined us, you would know this, but the person, if they can make an, a decision, they have the right to make their own decision.

Our role as supporters of people with a disability is to ensure that they are being provided information in an accessible way so they can make a decision for themselves. You might not like the decision, however, if the person is able to make that decision, understands the consequences of making a decision or not making a decision and can clearly share that with you, that is their decision, and it’s not your decision to make.

And the role of the support worker is to just share everything possible so the person can make the best decision for themselves. So this quote has come from a disability sector stakeholder, somebody who works within the disability sector, and I think this sort of really summarizes what we’ve just been discussing.

So if the person doesn’t have capacity and it’s incredibly high risk, then there needs to be an emergency response. But if there’s time to consider and the person has capacity to make their own decisions, there is time to have a conversation and engage a specialist, service to support that person. So couple of other things, important things to remember after somebody has disclosed violence.

So we’ve discussed the first point, but always letting the person know, if it is safe to do what you’re doing, who you’re telling and why. where possible, always ask the person’s consent to share information. So that’s if there is time and it’s not an emergency, we’re always working from consent.

Document the incident and actions using the person’s own words. So ideally, as soon as you’ve finished, speaking with someone about a disclosure, we would want to be documenting this as we… If you are the first person that this person has disclosed to, you may be a witness if they do decide to, report the violence.

So we, it would, having the incident written down really clearly in that person’s own words as soon as you can is the best way to preserve that evidence. always update your supervisor. I think working with people who are experiencing domestic, family, sexual violence can change really quickly. having, your supervisor on board, knowing what is going on, supporting you, to consider different options and providing emotional support is very important.

no one should ever be supporting someone alone or feel like they’re alone. their, your supervisor’s role is to support you. If there are children involved, it is important also to update your supervisor around this as there may need to be a child safety report. And if there is any evidence, document, preserve, inform.

So that might be physical evidence, so we wouldn’t touch anything. We would alert the police and let them know. other evidence might be something that you’ve seen, that you’ve witnessed, so that needs to be documented somewhere, so doing this as soon as possible And Jane, would that include potentially taking photos?

Absolutely, yeah. So if, thank you. So if you’ve noticed if there’s any physical indication, that violence has occurred, bruising, red marks, the person is saying, “This is what happened. This is the injury,” absolutely taking photos. Thank you, Tess. That’s, a wonderful point. Okay. So when you are making a referral to a service, if that is what the next step, is, make sure that you are sharing information about what that service does and how they can actually support, the person you’re working with, so that they can make an informed decision to say, “Yes, I would like you to contact this service for me,” or, “I’d like us to do that together.”

it’s really important, in your role to support the person to share information about their disability with the service because, excuse me, because, as we are probably all aware, a lot of, services and organizations do great work, but they’re not always super, well-informed about what makes an accessible and inclusive, environment, service, et cetera.

So you can help the person to share what they need in order to understand the information that’s, that they’re being given, to ensure that they can move around in the space, comfortably, to ensure that they feel safe within themselves, the sensory environment is okay for them, all of these things.

and also they might need some support in asking the, service provider to, for example, speak slower or, use simpler words or use shorter sentences. so these are all things that you can really support with that the provider may not always be aware of. You can support the person to call. You can go with them to the service.

Of course, these would be things that they would say they would like to happen. so again, having those conversations about how do you want this to look? What support do you want from me? I’m here to help you. You just tell me what you would like. and I guess as I’ve been alluding to, people who work in the domestic, family, and sexual violence sector, they are experts in their field.

You are an expert in disability support, and you know your client a lot better than they know your client. Don’t be afraid to use your knowledge and expertise. you’re valid to be there in that room. You can make a difference as well. So we have created a couple of re- referral pathway documents that you can also find on the WWILD website where you’ve accessed this module.

So alongside these two documents, you will also find a resource that has a list of services that support people who have a disability and have experienced violence in the ACT. So it highlights the different services available, what they do, and also has some tips around how you might refer to each service.

So it’s probably a little difficult to see, so encourage you to have a look, but basically this guides you through the questions that you might ask someone, and based on their response, that might be whether it’s an emergency response or whether there is time to support that person to consider different service options.

So on this document, it does list some of the services that are there to support. For example, if the person has experienced a sexual assault, the sexual assault document talks about the Canberra Rape Crisis Service. It also talks about forensic examination, so of course the person may like to present at the hospital to have a forensic examination or, have a discussion with their GP around any health concerns or physical health concerns after an assault.

for domestic and family violence, it lists the Domestic Violence Crisis Service in the ACT. It has information around police responses. so I’d really encourage you to familiarize yourself with some of the services available in the ACT to support people. I think making a decision around your options after an experience of violence can be incredibly difficult, so having someone explain that to you very clearly who has an understanding of what the service can do, how they can help, would be very helpful for someone to make a decision.

The services are also there for you to call and just say, “Look, I’m a support worker. I’m just interested to know a little bit more about what you do so I can have that discussion with somebody I’m supporting.” and of course, they are there to support you as well. So if you’ve had a discussion with someone after a disclosure, they are not wanting to, access a service, you’re very concerned about what’s happening at home, you’re still going to be supporting that person but are unsure around how to or what to do, what to consider in terms of safety, you could call the service and share some information in a de-identified way, so not- Sharing the person’s name, but saying, “This is what’s happened, and I’m really concerned.

Are there, is there anything that, information that you could share that might help me support this person?” so these can be downloaded from the website. Of course, being a flowchart, there’s a lot more nuance to this that we were unable to capture within the document, but I hope it will be helpful in terms of just providing some of the different pathways and things to consider within your role.

Yeah. I think these are such good, resources, and it’s so exciting because this, these flowcharts didn’t exist before this project, so we’ve now got something. And they were created by, experts in the sector here… in ACT, they are specific to our jurisdiction and so valuable.

so there is, as we’ve been saying, a lot involved when you’re, helping someone work through this kind of pathway and work out, what am I meant to do next? so do stick around for our next module, module seven, where we’ll be- discussing supported decision-making in a bit more detail. And this one is a quote from a lived experience stakeholder, so someone, with a disability, and they’ve summarized, your role.

And they’ve said, “So the role of the support worker is then to support that person to share what they need from a service to be able to access it safely and in a way that meets their need.” So again, you have that relationship with the person. You have that prior knowledge of, how they interact with the world, how they comprehend information, what supports they might need, whether their behavior is the same or different, all of these things.

So you are really well-placed to, help them in, this moment and support them to get the help that they need. So this is the point where we would like you to turn to your workbook, as we have a couple of questions here that would you, we would like you to respond to in relation to the case study.

this is available in your workbook, but I will read it out now. so again, just a disclaimer here that this case study does specifically describe experiences of domestic and family violence. So if you feel it’s not safe for you to hear this case study, please feel free to pause or not complete the activity, as your safety and emotional safety is very important.

So I’ll start to read the case study now. So Shahida is a 34-year-old Syrian refugee who escaped to Australia eight years ago. Shahida lives with her Australian husband, John, 53, and their son, Mark, who is four. Shahida was very active in her local community and had established friendships with other refugees from Syria and other countries.

Shahida is fluent in three languages. However, she has only a basic understanding of English. Shahida was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident eight months ago and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Shahida requires wheelchair for mobility and is reliant on her husband for personal care activities.

John refuses to take Shahida to her usual community events where she can be with people from her country. He does not take her to her place of worship and will yell at her to be quiet if she prays too loudly. He will often refuse to take her to medical appointments, and when he does, he will often withhold information from her when she has trouble understanding her medical team.

You have noticed that she is missing several appointments. She tells you in broken English that she has not been out anywhere since she was discharged from hospital so we’d like you to pause here. Please turn to questions one and two in your workbook. So the first question says, “What are some of the things you should do when somebody discloses violence?”

So we’ve discussed this earlier with, provided some tips. So what are the things that you should be doing and considering when someone tells you about an experience of violence? The second question, “What sup- support services might be able to help Shahida?” So as we’ve mentioned, we have got a resource list, which is also available on the website, that has services in the ACT that support people who have a disability and have experienced violence.

So if this information is new to you, I’d encourage you to go and have a look at that resource to help you respond to question two. Okay. Welcome back. And in fact, I was just thinking about your case study that you are just asking, rather answering questions about. and I was thinking that perhaps Shahida, someone who has English as an additional language, perhaps Shahida could be someone that you could use those communication boards with that we talked about- in module five, I believe. Where you can both point to pictures and try and communicate that way. So there’s lots of uses for those boards. However, let’s get back to this module. and we’re just having a look at the impacts of domestic, family, and sexual violence. and as you can imagine, everyone can be affected differently by, domestic, family, and sexual violence, and there’s no right or wrong way to feel.

This kind of violence can affect the person’s disability, it can affect their access needs, and it can affect their ability to just feel safe in their own community, and particularly, feeling safe with personal care, which of course is in very close proximity involving physical touch and all of those kinds of things.

impacts can include PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder; anxiety; nightmares; sleep difficulties; avoiding particular people or places; health difficulties getting worse or new health difficulties appearing; poor self-esteem; dissociating, so not really being present; difficulty trusting or building relationships with people.

And some people, particularly those with PTSD, but some people may experience sudden memories of the trauma, and these are called flashbacks, and that can be triggered by a particular word, a particular tone of voice, smell of perfume or flowers or paint or anything, particular colors, hearing a particular sound.

all of these things can be encoded in our brains to pop this memory forward when the person, isn’t equipped to be reliving that, that memory. for the next, few slides of the module, we’d like to talk about support for yourself as support workers and supporting someone who’s had an experience of domestic, family, sexual violence.

So a really important message is that you are not alone. You do not have to carry all the risk. The domestic, family, and sexual violence services are there to support you. The other thing is to pay attention to how you are feeling when you are supporting your client, because this can really take a toll on you.

You care about these people. You know you want people to be safe and happy and all of these things. It can cause a lot of worry for you. It might also bring up memories or things in your own life. So it’s really important to seek emotional support for yourself if you need that, and not to push down those feelings- of stress or anxiety or whatever it is. Because we know that we need to look after ourselves, to be able to look after someone else. Fit your own oxygen mask first, as they say. and yeah, working with people who have experienced violence may remind you of things that have happened or are currently happening.

And if this happens for you, please do take time to look after yourself and to speak to someone you trust. because yeah, you, definitely need to be talking about this and, not holding it inside, otherwise you’re going to end up not well as well, and we don’t want that. and there are multiple services that you can reach out to that specialize in supporting people in these, situations involving domestic, family, or sexual violence.

so please use them. 1-800-RESPECT is the national helpline. They also have a website with lots of resources. Here in Canberra, we have DVCS, the Domestic Violence and Crisis Service. Again, they’re open 24/7. Their phone line is open 24/7. we also have the Canberra Rape Crisis Service, which has extended hours as well, and they can provide, support and advice, And we also do have another service that is specifically for male survivors of sexual assault, which I think is really important too, because as we know, those, incidents of violence do occur too.

So we do have lots of services, wanting to help. So please do reach out to them. And we have a quote here from a lived experience stakeholder, and they’ve said, “Trauma recovery is a journey. There are good days and bad days.” And, yeah, this is so true. Unfortunately, trauma is not something that we can just take medicine for two weeks and we’re, cured of it.

It is a long journey of, working with your brain and your body to, rebalance your system and process what’s happened to you. And as you would probably be well aware that most recovery is never, a straight line from A to B, just constantly going up and improving every day. and trauma recovery especially is not linear at all.

you can have a good day, you can have a good week or month or year even, and then get reminded of the trauma by one of those triggers, end up in a flashback, and you could be out of action for a while. so remembering that, for someone who has experienced trauma that- Their capacity will go up and down day to day.

and just to be patient with them. whatever point they’re at, that’s where we meet them, and we just walk alongside them there. So some of the key takeaways from the module today are that you may be the only person that the client has spoken to about the violence. What you say and do matters.

Clients should always feel listened to and respected and remain control as much as possible. So in saying that, there may need to be an emergency response, as we’ve discussed, but if it’s safe to do always let the client know who their information will be shared with and what your next steps are. So it’s about keeping the person in that, in control as much as possible.

And if there’s not an emergency, there is time to allow that person some time to consider what they would like to do. Would they like to reach out to a support? And having a discussion around what that would look like. A domestic, family, and sexual violence service can support the person to consider those options, to consider safety.

They can do safety planning, and they can support you within your role to support that person. Again, you are not alone. no one should ever carry this risk alone. There are specialist services that can support you. So we’d like to thank you for joining us for the module today, and we hope to see you on the next one.

Thank you.