Who we help?
Family, domestic and sexual violence is a major health and welfare issue in Australia occurring across all socioeconomic and demographic groups, but predominantly affecting women and children. The impacts of family, domestic and sexual violence can be serious and long-lasting, affecting an individual’s health, wellbeing, education, relationships and housing outcomes. Limited employment opportunities and prospects to gain financial independence can severely hinder a woman from escaping an abusive situation.
What is domestic and family violence?
Domestic and family violence is behaviour that controls, coerces or threatens a person and can occur in current or past domestic, family or intimate relationships. Family violence may involve overt or subtle exploitation of power imbalances and may consist of isolated incidents or patterns of abuse over a period of time.
Domestic and family violence present’s in many forms and is not just physical as so often thought. Abusive and controlling measures can be exerted through sexual, verbal, emotional, financial and forced isolation methods.
Domestic violence affects people from all walks of life regardless of sexuality, ethnicity, religion or socioeconomic status. Women facing these challenges are not separate from the rest of us - they are us!
Domestic and family violence statistics:
On average, 1 woman a week in Australia is killed by her intimate partner.
Most victims/survivors of intimate partner violence are women.
Approximately 1 in 5 Australian women (18% or 1.7 million) has experienced sexual violence.
Partner violence often occurs when women are pregnant.
Intimate partner violence is the greatest health risk factor (greater than smoking, alcohol and obesity) for women in their reproductive years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience high rates of violence with significant health impacts. An estimated 3 in 5 indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15.
Over one-third of women with disabilities experience some form of intimate partner violence.
Children often see or hear violence between their parents. Family violence is a factor in many child protection cases.
At Raven Collective, we feel assisting women who have experienced adversity to learn and develop independence is of the utmost importance. A necessity in ensuring women gain the skills and confidence to live a life of success and fulfilment that is founded on their accomplishment and is the key to avoiding women escaping abusive relationships and from returning to their abusers or homeless.