THE coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the number of calls to Lifeline from people in the Mallee, prompting a fully-funded domestic violence workshop in Swan Hill in April.
DV-alert is a nationally accredited, two-day workshop designed to teach community members about how to recognise, respond and refer people who may be experiencing domestic or family violence.
During the 2020 financial year, Lifeline Central Victoria and the Mallee received 9500 calls.
In 2021, this number increased to 12,000, and so far in the first half of this year, they have already received 10,000 calls.
Approximately half of these calls were specifically from the Mallee region.
“The trajectory of call volume, it’s been an unprecedented increase, and that’s for a couple of reasons,” Lifeline Central Victoria and the Mallee executive officer Lisa Renato said.
“Absolutely the pandemic, there is heightened anxiety within the community, but people are reaching out for help more before its gets to be extreme crisis.
“So that’s great, that people really using lifeline for the purpose in which it is there for.”
Ms Renato said particularly in the Mallee, Lifeline Australia had put a large focus on recruiting and training more volunteers so the service was able to “physically answer more calls”.
Lifeline has also noticed an increase in calls from women, with two out of every three calls received from a woman.
This aligned with the increase in family and domestic violence that could be attributed to the stress of the pandemic.
The training was particularly aimed at frontline workers and volunteers who wanted to better understand how to help someone experiencing family or domestic violence. This includes people who provide direct services and support to the community, including sectors such as health, allied health, education, childcare and community.
Ms Renato said the course was quite intensive.
“We have a real focus on teaching participants how to recognise the signs of domestic and family violence, and then responding with appropriate care,” she said.
“How to have that initial conversation or broach the subject and do it in a really caring way that’s appropriate, and then how to refer them effectively to services that can actually help them.”
Ms Renato believed the surge in calls for help showed a clear need for training like this in the Mallee.
“The main goals of the training are to drive whole community action to preventing violence, but also to understand the diverse experiences of violence,” she said.
“We obviously take quite a bit of data around significant stressors, and certainly relationship and finance stressors have been on the increase, and we’re seeing a lot more people reaching out for help.”
The DV-alert workshop will be held on April 4 and 5 in Swan Hill.
For more information, visit the DV-alert or Lifeline websites.
People who need urgent help because of sexual assault, domestic or family violence should call 000. Support services are available through The Orange Door, 1800 290 943, or Mallee Sexual Assault Unit and Domestic Violence Service, 5025 5400.
Anyone requiring urgent help can call Lifeline’s 24-hour number, 131 114. For crisis support, call Beyond Blue, 1300 224 636, headspace, 1800 650 890, or Kids Helpline, 1800 551 800.
