The Equal, Safe and Strong school project was a pilot program that was implemented in three secondary schools located across the Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston local council areas.

The project aimed to:

• increase knowledge of violence against women
• increase early intervention strategies in students
• build the capacity of teachers to appropriately respond to instances of family violence
• foster stronger integration between local services providers and schools

SMPCP'S Family Violence Working Group and facilitating organisation ShantiWorks worked together with each school to identify appropriate students to receive training to become peer-leaders. Trained students then presented a component of the training to their peers within the school setting and passed on their new understanding of gender equity and violence against women. School staff were also trained in preventing violence against women and supporting project implementation within the school.

Research has indicated that best practice principles for school based programs targeting family violence have the most success when parents are involved as part of a whole of school approach. The Equal, Safe and Strong project offered information and support to parents as part of the program

Phase I of the project involved the development of collaborative processes between ShantiWorks and the SMPCP Family Violence Working Group.

Phase II took place across Term 1 , 2016 and saw ShantiWorks and the project officer focus on the development of resources and training content for teachers and students and the delivery of teacher training sessions.

Phase III of the project included implementation of parent information sessions and the student program . The project was evaluated and completed in mid 2016.

The program was presented as a poster at the 2015 Stop Domestic Violence Conference in Canberra. 

Download Conference Poster...1.89 MB

The Victorian Government introduced the Respectful Relationships program into schools after recommendations were made by the Royal Commission into Family Violence. As a result of the introduction of this statewide initiative, no further implementation of Equal, Safe and Strong was conducted.

Family violence is a priority issue for Victoria and in our local community.

Family violence includes abusive behaviour that is physical or sexual, emotional, psychological or economic
in nature, or is threatening and coercive or controlling in any other way.
Exposing a child to these types of abusive behaviours is also a form of family violence.
(Victorian Family Violence Protection Act 2008)

The SMPCP Family Violence Working Group was established in February 2014, when SMPCP partners saw a need to increase community awareness and the capacity of partner organisations to prevent family violence and violence against women and children.

More 20 partner organisations, community groups and schools, along with neighbouring Primary Care Partnerships and local media, worked together to develop a shared understanding of family violence issues.

Together we:

• Developed a Statement of Commitment for partner agencies
• Piloted an education program in secondary schools
• Developed an online family violence and gender equality training module
• Developed consistent messaging across the catchment which included language that conveyed gender equity
• Supported and participated in the 16 Days of Activism campaign annually between November 25 - December 10
• Developed a video resource and an evaluation tool focused on the gendered drivers of family violence

In the SMPCP catchment, work to prevent violence before it starts now continues via the Bayside Peninsula Preventing Violence Together Working Group.

For information about this group, please contact Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) on 9794 8677 or via their website www.whise.org.au 

For more information about activities outlined above, contact Tracey Collins at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 8587 0338.

The Southern Melbourne Primary Care Partnership (SMPCP) Family Violence Working Group (FVWG) and lead agency Bayside City Council have been excited to contribute to the One million stars to end violence initiative. The initiative was developed in response to the rape and murder of Jill Meagher in Brunswick on 22 September 2012. The peaceful yet powerful campaign spreads the message that we do not need to experience tragedy to be diligent and committed to ending violence.

The video below explains a more about our involvement in the project.

The project inspired an international movement to weave 1,000,000 stars as a way to shed light and keep the conversation on ending all forms of violence in our communities alive.

SMPCP partner agencies, through lead agency Bayside Council, engaged with professionals, local community groups and residents to participate in the project by aiming to weave 10,000 stars. These passionate people created in excess of 13, 000 stars before the official celebration event on November 25, 2016 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On completion of the exhibition at Bayside Council’s ARTrium space, all woven stars were sent to join others from all over the world to be displayed at an exhibition at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Queensland.

We were very excited to have the project receive a high commendation in at the 2017 VicHealth Awards in the 'Building health through art' category.

SMPCP Executive Officer, Terry Lazzarotto welcomed the release of the Summary and Recommendations of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The current work of the PCP is reflected in the report findings and the Partnership is well positioned to support the government’s efforts to address this important community issue. Among the 227 recommendations within the report, particular note was made of the need for more work to be done in the areas of prevention and training and workforce development for general health workers.

We're excited to announce that our One million stars to end violence initiative is a finalist in this year's VicHealth Awards.