By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A cash-strapped family violence service in Dandenong has a “glimmer of hope” after a meeting with Family Violence Prevention and Womens Minister Gabrielle Williams.
Wellsprings for Women recently called for $330,000 to help its case management service to continue supporting more than 100 women and families.
Chief executive Dalal Smiley said the meeting with Ms Williams on 5 March was “very positive”.
“Wellsprings will be meeting next with Family Safety Victoria to discuss our funding opportunities
“So nothing is in concrete as yet, but a glimmer of hope is definitely there.”
Ms Smiley said Wellsprings stressed how it was different to other service providers. The service argues that it is able to uniquely reach migrant women, overcome cultural barriers and make them comfortable enough to ask for help.
“The minister was very appreciative and supportive of our work.”
A spokesperson for Ms Williams’s office was contacted for comment.
Last week, Wellsprings chair Janet Cribbes said the service had grown due to extra Covid grant funding such as JobKeeper.
Its five staff provided more than $11 of value for every funding dollar.
Wellsprings’ welcoming women-only environment with a range of programs and services felt like “family” to its clients.
“This is a really big thing for a person at their most vulnerable – to feel comfortable.
“It’s the hardest thing to ask for help, even more so in a foreign country with language and cultural barriers.
“(Wellsprings) gives them the discretion they need which is not the case if they were attending a dedicated family violence service.”
Ms Cribbes said agencies often referred women with “critical” family violence experiences to Wellsprings.
“People who go to Wellsprings feel a space of not being understood and accepted, not judged.
“It lets them work things out in a gentle sort of way.”
A significant number of migrant and refugee women tell Wellsprings staff that they “are not quite ready to leave” their homes.
“Often they perceive the alternative to staying as worse.
“We support them to look after their kids, look after themselves and keep themselves safe.”
