Last week, the Federal Government announced a $23 million package to go towards a trial early intervention program to support adolescent boys at risk of using family violence, spread across 12 support services in Australia.
Shepparton’s The Bridge Youth Service is one of the services that was successful in receiving some of this funding to facilitate the program.
In this week’s episode of Digging Deeper, the News’ Nicola Ceccato sat down to chat with Greater Shepparton’s CEO of The Bridge Youth Service, Melinda Lawley about this program.
Melinda talked about how this program will be rolled out in Greater Shepparton, the existence of intergenerational patterns of domestic violence in the home, and why this program is a much-needed service for the region.
Content warning: This podcast contains discussions about domestic violence. We understand this may be distressing for some listeners, and listener discretion is advised.
If you need help, you can contact the below services.
1800 Respect: (1800 737 732) a 24 hour a day, seven days a week, phone and online counselling service to assist people who have been or who are affected by sexual assault, domestic or family violence.
Safe Steps: (1800 015 188) Family Violence Response Centre with 24/7 service for women and children experiencing violence providing immediate support, information advocacy, referral and emergency accommodation.
Djirra: (1800 105 303) Support for Aboriginal women who are experiencing family violence or have in the past.