WA domestic violence crisis: Family & Domestic Violence rehab program for offenders struggles to keep up

WA’s domestic violence crisis has hit a new low, with a program to help rehabilitate offenders struggling to keep up. The Department of Justice funds the family and domestic violence rehabilitation program to which magistrates dealing with record cases can refer offenders to for help. But Magistrate Evan Shackleton recently lamented the lack of resources available to him while dealing with a man on assault charges in the Joondalup family violence court. He said he was “not sure why we have a family violence court” when “there are no programs to send people to anymore”. And more recently in the same court a duty lawyer representing another man facing assault charges said the accused “is keen” to do the FDV rehabilitation program before asking “is it (the program) operating at the moment in Joondalup”. The Department of Justice said in response to questions from PerthNow that it contracted “a number of service providers” to deliver FDV rehabilitation programs in prisons and the community in the Kimberley, Pilbara, Midwest, Gascoyne and Goldfields, and within metropolitan Perth. “The department is actively working with the providers to return the service to full capacity as soon as is practicable,” the spokesperson said. The department would not be drawn on the problem, how it was tackling it or whether it was going to provide more funding. Communicare, contracted to run the FDV rehabilitation program Connect and Respect across Perth, partners with Anglicare WA for it to run it in Joondalup and Midland. AnglicareWA would not comment on the program being at capacity, referring PerthNow to the department. Communicare on its website says Connect and Respect is built around the foundation that ending violence against all people is achievable. “The program focuses on building people’s awareness of relationship violence and its lasting effects across generations,” it says. “Aiming to improve people’s emotional regulation skills and decision-making abilities and encourage accountability for their behaviour is also a key focus of the program.” Stopping Family Violence CEO Damian Green said it was difficult to have visibility over or comment on the internal workings of the courts, Department of Justice and Corrections in relation to the program. But he said courses for perpetrators were absolutely vital. “It’s important that we find a balance between consequence for past behaviour but also a path to change for future behaviour,” he said. “One of the real challenges is that we know consequence alone has minimal impact on family violence. “That’s not to say it’s not important, it is; we need to have consequence for past bad behaviour. “But by same token we need intervention options in place that have the ability to meet the range of needs that men have or perpetrators have. “But I think one of the struggles is at the moment we don’t have a broad ranging set of programs available universally across the State — I think that is a massive issue.” Mr Green, who’s Stopping Family Violence is the peak body for responses to perpetrators across WA, also talked about preventing the cycle of violence. “It’s really important that we remember that even if the past families that have experienced family violence have managed to achieve safety and get away from the perpetrator, we know their behaviours go on and we know that they are likely to impact families into the future. “I think that’s about making sure that we are aware that change needs to happen not just for what’s happened but for the future. “And we know that for a lot of kids in particular the previous partners might have got away from them, but kids rarely do. “So we need to intervene. We need to provide support to engage in change and sustain change. “Because it’s important for kids and it’s important for the future relationships that they have,” he said.