This month, Thorne Harbour Health was recognised at the 11th Victorian Pride Awards, taking out the award in the Outstanding Advocacy category for their work on the Refuge to Recovery program.
Refuge to Recovery is an extension of Refuge Victoria’s well-established refuge services for people escaping family violence and is the first specialised refuge support program for LGBTIQ+ people impacted by family violence in Victoria.
Last year, Refuge Victoria worked with LGBTIQA+ Community Controlled organisations including Thorne Harbour Health, Switchboard Victoria and Family Access Network, to develop a partnership with the shared vision of providing family violence refuge and support to LGBTIQA+ victim survivors.
The need for a dedicated LGBTIQ+ refuge response stemmed from research that has highlighted entrenched barriers experienced by those seeking support.
Research presented to the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence revealed that family violence is as prevalent in LGBTIQ+ communities as it is in the general population, yet only 20 per cent of cases are reported. As a ‘mainstream’ refuge service, we are aware that at least 11 per cent of our referrals should be LGBTIQ+ people but are not.
People who are LGBTIQ+ experience specific forms of family violence that are different from heterosexual people. In addition to the way violence is commonly used against cis heterosexual women, violence can also focus on a person’s sexuality and gender identity and can take the form of threatening to ‘out’ a person or disclose their HIV status, ridiculing a person’s gender expression, pressuring, forcing or tricking a person into having unsafe sex, and generally making people feel they deserve the abuse because of their sexuality.
LGBTIQ+ victim-survivors often feel excluded from services and can experience unconscious bias or a lack of skill in identifying and managing their specific needs.
Given the clear evidence presented by this research, Refuge Victoria is currently implementing a new, specialist Family Violence Refuge program in partnership with LGBTIQ+ community-controlled organisations including Switchboard, Thorne Harbour Health, and Family Access Network, who are part of the Pride in Place consortium.
Refuge to Recovery clients can be referred from any service or by individuals, however in the main we have found that they are primarily referred from LGBTIQ+ community-controlled or specialist services including Thorne Harbour Health and Switchboard’s Rainbow Door into dedicated LGBTIQ+ refuge accommodation instead of motels, or from services with dedicated LGBTIQ+ Case Managers.
Once in refuge, clients are supported by a specialist LGBTIQ+ Case Manager (who is a member of the LGBTIQ+ community) and have priority access to a THH Family Violence and Sexual Violence counsellor. Clients of the program are accommodated in Refuge Victoria properties and receive all the flexible funding and services available to every refuge client.
We are pleased that we will be able to continue to offer this small specialist LGBTIQ+ refuge service in partnership with LGBTIQ+ community and specialist LGBTIQ+ staff, through Commonwealth Government funding. However, our findings to date argue strongly for the expansion of this model.
Refuge Victoria recently launched a comprehensive program evaluation, which includes addressing barriers to family violence services, client feedback and outcomes, the role of partnerships, and recommendations. The evaluation clearly indicates the need for mainstream organisations to work with LGBTIQ+ community-controlled organisations to provide effective responses.
The evaluation also found that there is an overwhelming need for such a program and that the program effectively addressed barriers that prevent LGBTIQ+ victim survivors from accessing mainstream services including by building trust and knowledge of services and helping clients and services better understand how family violence is different for LGBTIQ+ people.
Read the evaluation report here.
The Family Violence Refuge to Recovery Program for LGBTIQ+ People partnership was funded through the 2023 Paul Ramsay Foundation Grant Round – Specialist DFV Programs: National Open Grant Round.