By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
FOR 11 years Fiona Link-Freeman has worked with women trying to escape and save their children from abusive relationships.
The Windermere Victim’s Assistance counsellor advises them and mentors them, but at the end of the day, she said, it was up to the victim to make a choice.
This makes the response a victim receives the first time she seeks help utterly crucial to what happens next.
“Usually, the first disclosure a woman makes, that response will determine whether she continues to seek support,” she said.
“Because they’ve been brainwashed … ”
In just over a decade with Windermere in Narre Warren, Fiona has seen family violence campaigning increase tenfold.
But the insidious societal scourge still continues to tear families apart, particularly in Casey and Cardinia where many of Fiona’s clients are from.
From April 2014 to March 2015 there were 3759 family incidents reported in Casey compared to 3636 in the same period a year earlier – the most of any local government area.
“It’s becoming a lot more of a serious public issue that needs to be addressed and out there it makes it a lot easier for women to have courage and trust to disclose their experiences,” Fiona said.
“More women are coming to the forefront, and it’s a huge step in addressing the issue.”
But in Fiona’s case, tackling family violence has always been a priority, even dating back to long before she started working with Windermere.
“It’s always been the case for me,” she said.
“Even as a young teenage woman, when you have the human right to live freely taken away from you, it’s such a gross social form of injustice and gross violation of human rights.
“That’s what drives me personally … to be able to support these women and work with them, to be able to find ways to re-establish their rights and space in the world.”
Fiona works with Katrina Herbert, the team leader of Windermere’s counselling program.
She oversees a range of different programs offered by the organisation as it continues to support women and children suffering from abusive relationships.
This includes the six-week Healthy Women Healthy Relationships program, co-ordinated by Fiona.
Katrina concedes that she and other carers can only do so much, and at the end of the day she understands the victims need to be willing to seek change.
But for as long as she can, the Windermere team leader will continue to mentor these women and children, and help to lead them to a better, and safer, life.
“It’s more about the advocacy role, being able to support women and children to access their rights and them being able to have a voice,” Katrina said.
“A lot of these women tend to be hidden and not express their own voices and aren’t able to follow their own passions.
“I think it is about knowing not every woman will be able to get to that end point, but also knowing they’re on the road to it – we’ve opened up the doors.”
If you need help, contact Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre 1800 015 188, or go to www.safesteps.org.au
