Search Results

This report provides information about workers in services used by people affected by domestic and family violence and sexual assault. Analysis of surveys of workers and service leaders along with stakeholder interviews provides detailed insight into models of provision, workforce strengths and gaps, workers' skills and skill development needs, and perceptions of service capacity and sustainability challenges. Overall, the information can be used to inform efforts to build capacity of the workforce and service system to improve responses to people affected by violence, to help achieve the objectives of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (2010-2022).

Key findings include: the workforce is strongly female dominated - more than 4 in 5 workers identified as female; services located in major cities tend to employ higher proportions of workers from [culturally and linguistically diverse] CALD backgrounds, while those in remote areas employed higher proportions of employees from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds; workers generally reported feeling confident identifying signs of abuse, however, fewer said they were confident identifying financial or sexual abuse, compared with physical or emotional abuse; many workers felt they needed additional training to support specific client groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, intersex and queer/questioning] LGBTIQ people affected by violence, asylum seekers, people with experience of homelessness, and perpetrators of violence; more than 90 per cent of workers reported having a post-school qualification (36.3 per cent had a bachelor level qualification and a further 30.5 per cent had a postgraduate degree), however, while the sector is highly qualified, not all workers felt their formal qualifications had provided good preparation for working with people affected by domestic and family violence or sexual assault; workers with the highest levels of contact with people affected by domestic and family violence and sexual assault were more likely to have participated in relevant training in the last 12 months; workers in frequent contact with victims of sexual assault were more likely than others to receive relevant training, and to have received larger amounts of training; among workers in leadership positions ([Chief Executive Officers] CEOs, senior managers, team leaders), three quarters of men had undertaken management or leadership training, but only two thirds of women had done so; and less than 2 in 3 felt they received appropriate induction when they commenced in the service.

Excerpts from publication. Show less