Whittlesea CALD Communities Family Violence Research Report 2012 | Page 30

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shop near her workplace for six months while she was separating from her husband. She said this
support was crucial given that she had no family in Australia.
What the women were generally seeking from support services was firstly, a person they could
trust, confide in and talk to and secondly a person who could provide practical assistance with
referrals, paperwork, court support etc.
Having external support often had not only an effect on the women themselves but also a
corresponding effect on the perpetrator of the abuse. For example, a number of women stated that
once the perpetrator knew that others knew about the abuse and that the women had outside
support they believed that this led to a change in their behaviour:
‘…he knew there were other people aware of what was going on who cared for us and that changed
the dynamic. He knew he couldn’t continue to abuse us without consequences.’
Many of the women interviewed had accessed support and assistance from the Arabic speaking
settlement worker at WCC. The women usually became aware of the Arabic speaking settlement
worker through word of mouth in the community and the Arabic speaking women’s group or
through presentations and information sessions held at institutions where they attended English
language classes. The women said that they felt particularly comfortable with someone who they
knew they could trust, who spoke the language and who had a connection to their community.
The majority of the women interviewed were involved with the Arabic speaking women’s group run
by Whittlesea Community Connections. The women who were involved with this group stated that
having the support of the group was extremely important to them and their involvement with the
group helped build their confidence and self-esteem, allowed them to discuss their experiences with
other women and build friendships, reduced their isolation and exposed them to different points of
view and specific information about family violence through training and information sessions run by
the group (for example, healthy relationships training provided by InTouch)
‘Participating in the Arabic speaking women’s group was a great support because I could speak to
other migrant women with similar experiences and everyone supports each other and it improves
your self-esteem. All the women listen to each other and help each other and it is also an outlet and a
place to forget about the problems at home.’
For women whose activities outside of the home may have been controlled and monitored by their
partners attending the Arabic speaking women’s group had the advantage of being seen as a more
acceptable activity than others. A number of women gave examples of their attempts to attend
counselling being blocked by their husbands or their husbands insisting on accompanying them to
counselling sessions.
Some of the women also emphasised the importance of having further opportunitie