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- My name's Marcus,
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I'm the National Family Violence Specialist
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for The Salvation Army,
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and I specifically hold the portfolio
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of working with men who choose to use family violence.
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I've had over a decade of experience working
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in family violence
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and work predominantly in rural
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and regional areas, including Inner and Outer Gippsland.
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Being a man in this space of social work,
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and specifically, family violence,
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starts with acknowledgement.
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The evidence is overwhelming
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that family violence is gendered.
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I worked with victims, survivors,
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and children predominantly at the start,
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and recognised that to make potentially a larger impact
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and to reduce the amount of flow and effect
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on the next partner and their next partner
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or their next family that they impact,
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working directly with the men who choose to use violence
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I saw as making the largest impact.
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I think what's really, really clear about working with men
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who choose to use violence is that they are people,
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so they are fathers, they are brothers,
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they are stepparents to other children of new relationships,
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so trying to find a way to support them as a person
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and not to see them for the violence
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that they have perpetrated.
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What were some of the things
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that you think might have led her to be scared?
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In the Men's Behaviour Change program,
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our goal is change, in their behavior,
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their thought processes,
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their principles that have potentially caused them
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to use violence against women and children.
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The female co-facilitator plays a vital role
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as it allows someone to sit in that space
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and challenge the unconscious bias.
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What it models is that relationships should be respectful,
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appropriate, and for violence to never be a theme
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in their relationships.
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There is always peer review and peer discussions
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to talk about difficult times, difficult phone calls,
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but family violence is always a space
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where if you communicate
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about how you're going and how you're feeling,
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a care will always be provided.
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What you'll often find in regional areas
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is that the people who work in it
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are a part of the community in which they live in.
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In essence, everyone has their arm around each other trying
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to achieve the same goal,
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and that is to make a positive impact on men
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who are choosing to use violence,
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and in return, we have safer families and a safer community.
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'Cause this is about learning and actually changing
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for the good,
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and I think that's a really important message to have.
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