Family Safety Victoria’s Orange Door Network has supported hundreds of thousands of people experiencing family violence to get help in the few years that it has been operating.
Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Gabrielle Williams said the Network provided access to family violence and wellbeing services when and where people needed them, with more than 200,000 people, including more than 80,000 children, supported since services began in May 2018.
“The Royal Commission into Family Violence found that people experiencing family violence needed a joined-up service system, where they could be quickly and easily connected with the right support at the right time,” Ms Williams said.
“In an Australian first, the free service brings together workers from family violence, men’s, Aboriginal and child and family services to provide coordinated support for family violence and family wellbeing including crisis assistance, risk assessments, safety planning and wellbeing support,” she said.
“The coordinated approach means victim survivors don’t have to re-tell their story to multiple services and repeatedly re-live the trauma of their experience.”
Ms Williams said it also meant that families could be connected with the services and supports they needed earlier, “reducing the likelihood of longer-term, devastating impacts of family violence”.
The Minister said the Network covered 14 regions across Victoria, with the remainder on track to open by the end of the year.
“The single intake point creates a clearer picture of the needs of those who experience family violence, so that we can better address the underpinning drivers of family violence, keep perpetrators in view and held to account,” she said.
Further information on the Orange Door Network can be accessed at this PS News link.
