Steps to safety

MULTI-LANGUAGE family violence support is now available from safe steps.
The Family Violence Response Centre launched support brochures in multiple languages for women from non-English-speaking backgrounds at its AGM on Wednesday 18 November.
CEO Annette Gillespie said safe steps aimed to be responsive and accessible to all, and that it had also launched two websites for young people.
The www.safestepschildren.org.au site targets children aged from five to 12 years while www.safestepsyouth.org.au caters for 12 to 18-year-olds.
Ms Gillespie said half of safe steps’ clients were aged under 18, with many women coming through the service fleeing violent homes with their children.
“It is vital that children and young people have access to resources to help them through this traumatic period in their lives,” she said.
“The microsites feature important information written specifically for youth by our family violence specialists.
“The language, images and characters are both appealing and appropriate to the target audiences.
“We hope the sites will be used by schools and community groups to help educate youth about family violence and safe relationships.”
Ms Gillespie said the aim was to help young people to better understand their feelings and what was happening at home and to break the learned behaviour cycle of family violence.
“Children living in homes where there is family violence are in an environment that is unpredictable and filled with tension and fear,” she said.
“The impact can be ongoing and long-lasting. These children are living with trauma.
“Exposure to domestic violence can have significant psychological, behavioural, health and socioeconomic impacts on children, including depression, anxiety and difficulties in school.
“Fear, embarrassment, lack of concentration, isolation and loneliness are just some of the emotions and feelings that a child or young person may feel in this situation.”