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Margins to the Mainstream event: The proposal for a Victoria-wide expansion of an evaluated and proven program to address violence against women with disabilities

Women's Health Services Network

The Victorian Women’s Health Service Network (WHSN) is holding an online launch of Margins to Mainstream: Preventing violence against women with disabilities (M2M) and the WHSN’s bid for investment in the 2025-26 Victorian state budget.

The event, scheduled for 11am – 12pm on November 25, 2024, includes a keynote address from Dr Wei Leng Kwok. A specialist in the primary prevention of gender-based violence and highly experienced program evaluator. Broadcaster, writer, speaker and disability advocate, Jacinta Parsons will host a panel with lived experience Experts and partner organisations positively impacted by the program. Join the event here https://events.humanitix.com/margins2mainstream

“M2M is an innovative and proven program preventing violence against women with disabilities,” said Fiona Sharkie, Acting CEO of Women’s Health East, the organisation that delivered M2M in Melbourne’s east from 2020 to 2024. “It is an exemplar of leading-edge prevention in a real-world context, and it has been tested, refined and evaluated,” she said.

The only program of its kind in Australia, it enabled over 30 organisations—including women’s and community health services, local government, Aboriginal services, universities, utility services, and specialist community legal and family violence services—to hear from lived experience experts.

“Having the opportunity to share our experiences, and actually be listened to, it felt so validating,” lived experience Expert, Julie-Ann.

“Co-design with this group has been fantastic. Every input is listened to and acted on,” lived experience Expert, Andrea.

The M2M model is ready for scale-up to drive long-term, sustainable change towards equality and safety for women with disabilities in Victoria. The WHSN is calling on the Victorian Government to expand funding for state-wide expansion, further affirming Victoria’s role as a leader in the prevention of violence against women and creating a state where all women with disabilities are safe and respected. 

Interviews available with

• Fiona Sharkie, Acting CEO, Women’s Health East
• Lived experience Experts Julie-Ann and Andrea
• Representatives from organisations that participated in the program

Contact: Emily Reeves, 0401919406, emily@agencyinternational.com.au

About us:

 About Women's Health Services Network

The Women's Health Services Network has been a driving force progressing and shaping Victoria’s women’s health and equality space for four decades. While our services were established and funded independently of one another, collaboration has been a strong part of our history. Today, the 12 women’s health services funded through the state government’s Victorian Women’s Health Program collaborate under the title the ‘Victorian Women’s Health Services Network’. This enables us to work as a coordinated, mutually-reinforcing statewide network comprising both place-based and specialist services.

Contact details:

Key Contact

Emily Reeves

E: emily@agencyinternational.com.au

M: 0401 919 406