Berry Street Web Docs Annual Report 2008 | Page 10

Berry
Street

A: By tackling

to work with

children recover

family violence

chooses

and helping
women and

families

Tackling family violence demands a whole of community
response. In the North and West Region, Berry Street is the
lead agency in encouraging and supporting an integrated
response to family violence.

who are hurting

the most

Nearly 3,000 contacts were made to our Family Violence
Intake Service. We also:
• Provided support to 740 women.
• Provided 89 women with either crisis or transitional
accommodation.
• Provided support at court for 266 women.
• Provided therapeutic counselling for 117 women and
referred another 101 women directly to community health
services for counselling.
• Worked intensively with 24 children.
The new pilot Crisis Advocacy Response Service demonstrates our work
in this challenging area.

Agencies in the Northern Region had identified the need for an improved
response to women and children following violence in the family home. While
safety requirements mean it may be necessary for a woman to leave the family
home, this reduces her financial stability and means she and her children are dislocated
from their home, school and community. It also signals to the woman and her children
that it is not their right to remain safely in their home.
Together with the Victoria Police, the Women’s Domestic Violence Crisis Service, the Salvation
Army, Women’s Health in the North and two women’s refuges, we are trialling a new approach,
which will enable women and children to remain safely at home. The project has received an
Office of Housing Best Practice Grant and is being evaluated by Melbourne University.