Whittlesea CALD Communities Family Violence Research Report 2012 | Page 55

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The manual includes a section specifically looking at group work and CALD women. The major
benefits to delivering culturally sensitive group work for CALD women who have experienced family
violence cited are that CALD women feel more comfortable in a group setting as opposed to
individual counselling with a stranger and engage more quickly with a facilitator who speaks their
language and knows their culture. Group work is also seen as an effective way to ‘…facilitate the
development of social networks for women isolated from their own or the wider
community’(Women’s Health in the North, 2006, p.19).
Responses from women interviewed for the project who were engaged with the Arabic speaking
women’s group suggest that group work provides an antidote to social isolation, allows women to
connect and share their experiences with other women in a safe environment and may also be a
useful forum for the provision of information to women experiencing or at risk of experiencing
family violence.
In setting up and delivering groups for CALD women, Women’s Health in the North recommends
avoiding the use of interpreters where possible and engaging bilingual/bicultural facilitators,
particularly people who already have links with the community. They also recommend forming
partnerships between agencies to share relevant skills and expertise, such as language expertise
(Women’s Health in the North, 2006, p.18).
Mentor models are identified in the literature as a potential model for addressing CALD women’s
social isolation and facilitating engagement with services. The MOSAIC Project (Mother’s Advocates
in the Community) was designed to pilot and evaluate whether mentors (who were themselves
mothers) could improve the lives of pregnant women and their children who were experiencing
family violence (Kerr, C., 2009, p.4). The MOSAIC study included women from CALD backgrounds,
with about one third of women recruited for the study born overseas. (Taft et al, 2011, p.4) The
women were referred into the program by their GP or Maternal Child Health Nurse. (Kerr, C., 2009,
p.4)
The MOSAIC project drew on research suggesting that peer support, mentoring and advocacy can
assist women experiencing family violence and that pregnancy is a known risk factor for family
violence (Kerr, C., 2009, p.5). In the evaluation there was evidence of a true difference in reduced
partner violence in women who had been mentored (when compared to the control) but there was
only weak evidence of other benefits such as reductions in depression and improvements in physical
and mental well-being. (Taft et al, 2011, p.7) There were also some other reported benefits to
mentored women which included twice the proportion of mentored women (32%) taking up new
studies or training or returning to further training or education (Taft et al, 2011, p.5).
Amongst the group of mentors recruited for the study were women from a diverse range of
backgrounds who were fluent in a number of languages. It was suggested that if setting up a
mentoring program in a diverse community in future it would be considered highly desirable to
recruit bilingual mentors. However it was recommended that caution should be exercised in simply
matching women on the basis of cultural background because some women do not wish to receive
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mentoring from a woman of the same cultural background.

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It was noted that women may fear their partner or ex-partner, family and friends finding out and in some situations a
woman’s safety might be compromised. It was recommended that women be consulted before being matched with a mentor
from the same cultural background. Kerr, C., (2009), MOSAIC: Mothers’ Advocates in the Community – Project Manual: Setting
Up a Mentor Project for Mothers Experiencing Intimate Partner/Family Violence, Mother & Child Health Research, La Trobe
University, Melbourne, p.10.