WHISE was honoured to be given the opportunity to partner with Bunjilwarra, WHISE to deliver a 6-week program for young men which commenced in March 2024 and a separate 5-week program for young women which commenced in May around the prevention of family violence, masculinities/rigid gender stereotypes, and healthy relationships. In collaboration with Bunjilwarra and Dardi Munwurro staff, a culturally appropriate program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to prevent gender-based violence and challenge rigid gender stereotypes was developed.
The Bunjilwarra Koori Youth Alcohol and Drug Healing Service is a purpose-built statewide 12-bed alcohol and other drug residential rehabilitation and healing service for Aboriginal young people aged 16 to 25. This program aims to support young people transitioning through drug and alcohol recovery in a culturally safe and supportive environment.
Program objectives included:
- Increasing understanding of family violence and its socio-ecological context.
- Highlighting the impact of societal norms and structures on institutional practices and inequalities.
- Exploring the intersection of culture, colonialism, and rigid gender stereotypes.
- Empowering young people to build safe, respectful, and equal relationships.
The program, in partnership with Bunjilwarra and Dardi Munwurro was an exciting opportunity to put intersectionality into practice in alignment with Our Watch’s Changing the Picture’s drivers of violence. This included integrating the content about the “ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities”. It involved discussing the “ongoing impacts of colonisation for non-Indigenous people and society” and the “intersection between these multiple drivers…” The fact that many of these young people were victim-survivors as well as potentially using violence increased the complexity of the discussions. The facilitators, a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous, brought together primary prevention, narrative theory and culture together to open up discussion with these young people about their experience and use of violence.
The positive outcomes from the program were that young people could start to understand some of their experiences in the context of Australia as a colonised country in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to face ongoing discrimination and oppression. We hope to have planted seeds about healthy relationships, the use of violence and how to choose other ways of behaving. There were some robust discussions about ‘what protection’ looks like, when the young men are being told to protect their friends and families they asked: “how do we protect our families and not use violence?” Another comment was “I’ve never talked so much about my history and culture before.”
An unexpected outcome was that one of the facilitators took discussions back to their men’s groups and posed some of the young men’s questions to the group, which started a deep discussion about advice they would give these young men and resulted in some insights into their own behaviour. This facilitator reported that ‘families of those men who had some insight into their behaviour are safer now because of this discussion’.