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Whether you stay with us in one of our refuges or a crisis accommodation property, we will do the best we can to ensure you feel supported by our team or other specialist services in the community after you leave. During your stay we work with you on case plans and exit plans – these are goals that you want to work towards and achieve, so that you can see your future of safety without Family Violence.

Some of the medium and long-term goals we can support you to focus on include:

  • stable finances
  • permanent citizenship and migration assistance
  • transitional or long-term housing
  • employment, re-training or study
  • getting your licence or buying a car
  • enrolling your children in school
  • counselling and support to work through your experiences and adjust to life moving forward.

Refuge Victoria is fortunate to have great partnerships with organisations who work with us to help you achieve your goals. Housing is one of the areas we focus on the most. We also focus on you having money of your own so that you can support yourself, and your children. We understand that leaving your own home is hard, especially when you have no or limited options for where you will live next – but living with violence and feeling unsafe is also not an option. We can access Housing Connect programs to assist you in accessing the private rental market as well as access to financial support through the Private Rental Assistance Program.

Whether you are able to safely return to your own home, or go to a new home, we can help you make it a safe place. There are Government funded programs such as the Personal Safety Initiative (PSI) and Family Violence Flexible Support Packages, which assist you to access support, move out of refuge (crisis), and improve your safety, wellbeing and independence. The purpose of the PSI is to enable you to be safe and feel safe. This might include an assessment of your home to look at safety and security. It could be recommended that your door and window locks need to be changed or upgraded, or that sensor lights or roller shutters are installed. Sometimes security doors, property or personal alarms are recommended, and it is not uncommon for security cameras to be considered too.

Your case manager will help you to prepare your nomination and application for housing. If your nomination is successful, we can help you to access removalists and seek funding to assist you with bond payments and many of the things you need to establish your own home.

We also have access to transitional, social and public housing programs through our partnerships with the Salvation Army, Community Housing Ltd and Women’s Housing Ltd. Your case manager will help you to prepare your nomination and application for housing. If your nomination is successful, we can help you to access removalists and seek funding to assist you with bond payments and many of the things you need to establish your own home.

While you stay in transitional housing, we will support you through our outreach program. We have several specialist Family Violence case managers who work in the community. You will have a case manager to support you with your case plans and goals while also helping you to be as independent, self-reliant, and as safe as possible. Your case manager might be a different person who sees you less often than your refuge case manager, but they are part of the same service, providing specialist and high-quality support when you need it.

Our Specialist Children’s and Young Person’s (SCYP) Program is unique to Refuge Victoria. We employ refuge and outreach based SCYP Practitioners to work with many of the children and young people in our service. Their role includes working with you as a family, as well as providing individual support for children and young people to help address their emotional, social, recreational, health and education support needs.

Most recently, the Victorian Government established a statewide service to provide therapeutic interventions for victim survivors of Family Violence. This means that Refuge Victoria clients who have either moved out of refuge, or our service, can access support to focus on their recovery, healing and safety. Our collaboration and consortium with Uniting, EACH, Family Access Network and the Australian Childhood Foundation provides this therapeutic intervention through the Pathways to Resilience Program in the Outer East – a program and partnership which we are pleased and proud to be aligned with.