Stopping Family Violence has been awarded a new grant from the Department of Communities to develop and evaluate an integrated FDV Perpetrator and Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) intervention that is culturally relevant for Aboriginal perpetrators of FDV in the Kimberley. This project supports further implementation of the State Government’s Safer Families, Safer Communities Kimberley Family Violence Regional Plan 2015-2020 (Kimberley Plan). The aim of the Kimberley Plan is to reduce FDV and improve community safety in the Kimberley Region, especially in the region’s Aboriginal communities.
Research Background
There are very strong links between alcohol misuse and FDV, and between child abuse and FDV. Alcohol treatment and FDV services rarely adequately meet the multiple and complex needs of many of these survivors and children, meaning that many will fall through the gaps in service provision, increasing the risk of continued harm. Research suggests few perpetrator programs or services for survivors address substance use systematically. Just as scarce are drug or alcohol services which respond to domestic abuse issues for either perpetrators or survivors. In most cases, the perpetrator is male, meaning that the majority of victims of co-existing alcohol misuse and FDV are women and children.
SFV will oversee the development of a combined FDV Perpetrator and AOD intervention, with a particular focus on Aboriginal perpetrators of FDV, trialled in the Kimberley. The pilot will be developed collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders including Indigenous individuals and organisations. The pilot project will include:
- a scoping exercise to map available literature and example program content;
- designing a culturally appropriate intervention;
- selecting a pilot site in consultation with stakeholders;
- Facilitate the delivery of the pilot intervention;
- developing a monitoring and evaluation framework that identifies elements that could be used in other communities; and
- evaluating the pilot project.
