Monday 1.45pm-2.15pm

Fostering Healthy Roles for Men and Boys: Dr Michael Flood

Hopeful ways of engaging with men and boys as active participants in the prevention of violence against women.

Women, faith and the justice system – how churches can help: Dr Jenny Richards

Many cases of fdv involve a process of engagement with the criminal justice system. For Christian women victims of violence, this engagement can trigger guilt and shame. But it shouldn’t.  How can church leaders and Christian friends assist her to see her engagement as a faith response on her part.

Stopping Family Violence at its Source – Reflections on working with Perpetrators: Steve Frost ,Director, Horizon’s Family Law Centre, NSW & Lucy Sullivan, Senior Solicitor, Solicitor-in-Charge Sydney North

Horizons Family Law Centre is run as an expression of Christian faith & works collaboratively with both local churches and non-faith NGO’s. We will explore the theological underpinnings for why we work with perpetrators (as well as victim-survivors) and reflect on: what we’ve seen catalyse change in perpetrators; and how to avoid being co-opted by, or drawn into confrontation with, perpetrators.

Sharing hope :The role of religious leaders and of pastoral care: findings from two recent pieces of research Dr Josephine Clarke, Research Fellow and Professor Sarah Wendt, Professor of Social Work, Department of Social Work and ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, University of Melbourne.‘Religion and domestic violence: Exploring men’s perpetration’ a research project in partnership with the Lutheran Church and ‘A study into the experiences of clergy and church workers in the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide when responding to abuse of children, sexual assault of adults, and domestic and family violence’, commissioned by the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide

What are the Ten Commitments to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence in church communities? Bishop Genieve Blackwell, Chair , Families & Culture Commission & Rev’d Tracy Lauersen, National Program Manager, Families & Culture, Anglican Church of Australia. In response to finding that some members of our churches are impacted by domestic violence, the Anglican Church undertook a process of consultation across our denomination that resulted in the Church making ten commitments to prevent violence and to respond to those affected. People with lived experience of violence, clergy, bishops, domestic violence workers contributed to the process. Learn what “The Ten Commitments” mean, how we are implementing them and how they could help your church to prevent and respond to domestic violence too.

Conference Workshops

Tuesday 1.00pm - 1.30pm

Hope & Hairdressers – Co-ordinating a whole of community response & working with other agencies in the sector: Josh Dowton, Executive Pastor, Northside Baptist (Crows Nest, Sydney).

The Crows Nest Safe Village Project was born out of a desire to see a suburb-wide response to Domestic & Family Violence (DFV) in the local community. Using a strengths-based, collaborative approach, a group of local people and organisations came together for the purpose of helping to connect individuals, the local business community, and faith groups with local services and support in order to identify, respond to, and ultimately reduce all forms of DFV in the community. Northside Baptist Church has worked successfully with the local Council, services, and other groups to develop practical training for local businesses, starting with hairdressers, to be able to recognise the signs and respond well to women customers/clients who are experiencing DFV. This initiative is a lived example of how churches can work with local community organisations to do something positive in responding to DFV in our communities.

How to loan hope when it is in short supply: Dr Leisa Aitken, Clinical Psychologist

How the concept of Christian hope can  translate in practice to those in ministry  and  support roles to enable  hope centred conversations as they walk with families who have a connection with domestic violence:  This workshop will provide a scaffold for these conversations that links our Christian hope with an experience of hopefulness in daily life.

What does a whole of church approach to prevention look like?Kerryn Lewis, Manager for the Diocesan Preventing Violence against Women Program, Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.

A deep cultural shift is needed to prevent violence against women. As the church, we are compelled by Christ's love to challenge the attitudes, behaviours and structures that underpin violence, and create this shift. The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne's, Whole of Church PVAW Program works to create cultural change and prevent violence against women through a whole-of-organisation approach. This is about securing and embedding comprehensive change throughout the church community and encompasses leadership commitments, teaching and learning, PD, policies, support for staff and community partnerships. This workshop will introduce participants to the Whole of Church concept and resources used in the Program as well as an opportunity for questions and discussion.

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Monday 4.00pm-4.30pm

When caring becomes costly: Strengthening your own hope when caring in complex pastoral situations: Ruth Holt, Clinical Psychologist

Holding hope and working with people in complex situations is a privilege, but can also be very challenging. This self-reflective practice workshop focusses on long term interpersonal patterns (or schemas) that are very common in caring professions. These relational schemas often create a capacity to be highly attuned to the needs of others, but can also be problematic and are linked to burnout. We will be taking time to notice one pattern that impacts your hope and one spiritual resource that will strengthen you in your work.

Preaching and teaching the Bible to combat family violence:Robyn Whitaker, Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy

How might Hagar, a black slave woman who is the first to name God in the Bible, be a model for empowerment? How do Zechariah and Joseph in Luke’s gospel offer alternate models of biblical masculinity? There is now good evidence to show that using the Bible to support hierarchically defined gender roles can contribute to environments where abuse occurs, so how do we make sure we are not contributing to the problem? This workshop will look at biblical constructions of gender roles, with a particular focus on masculinity, to show how attention to the full breadth of Scripture gives us ways to preach and teach a counter narrative to unhealthy stereotypes of masculinity and dominance.  The workshop will focus on WHAT is in the Bible as well as HOW we teach or preach it

A new church-based bystander program: Rev’d Tracy Lauersen and Rev’d Melanie Whalley. Every church community is likely to have victims and perpetrators, but mostly we have people who are in fellowship with one another, witnesses to each others lives as we meet each week and walk alongside one another. The Anglican Church of Australia is developing a new program to educate and equip all people in our churches to understand domestic violence, know the signs and drivers and most of all, be equipped to be more than passive bystanders to others people’s lives. The program harnesses the power of bystanders in our churches to intervene, share hope with victims and change our culture to one that prevents violence. We will discuss the background to the program, the efficacy of bystander approaches for cultural change and why we needed to develop a program specifically for the church context. We will also interact around one of the scenarios discussed in the program.