Responding to the ‘Shadow Pandemic’ Webinar Series

In June 2020, Monash University published “Responding to the ‘shadow pandemic’: practitioner views on the nature of and responses to violence against women in Victoria, Australia during the COVID-19 restrictions” which found an increase in the frequency and severity of violence against women alongside an increase in the complexity of women’s needs.

The Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre partnered with Safe and Equal to deliver the ‘Responding to the Shadow Pandemic’ webinar series throughout 2020 – 2021. The purpose of this series was to better understand the impacts of the pandemic on family violence rates in the community and impacts on service delivery. Each of the nine sessions provided an opportunity to hear directly from family and gendered violence experts and sector representatives about the impacts the pandemic was having on community members, services and the family violence system.

Victim survivor experiences and advocacy during COVID-19

Wednesday 21 July – watch the recording
Speakers: Tania Farha (CEO, DV Vic and DVRCV); and survivor advocate representatives from Noor, The Professional Advocates Network, The Expert Advisory Panel and VSAC.

Family violence workforce wellbeing during COVID-19

Wednesday 19 May – watch the recording
Speakers: Jacky Tucker (DV Vic), Naomi Pfitzner (MGFVPC), Tania Farha (CEO DV Vic) and Eleri Butler (CEO Family Safety Victoria).

The Pink Recession: The gendered economic impact of COVID-19

Wednesday 23 June – watch the recording
Speakers: Tanja Kovac (GenVic), Julie Reilly (Australians Investing In Women)

The ‘Shadow Pandemic’ – ‘A System Under Strain’

Wednesday 21 April – watch the recording
Speakers: Melanie Brown (Gippsland Women’s Health), Robyn Gregory (CEO Women’s Health West), Margaret Augerinos (CEO CNV), Tania Farha (CEO DVRCV/DV Vic)

The ‘Shadow Pandemic’ – ‘A bubble set to burst’

Wednesday 19 August 2020 – watch the recording
Speakers: Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Domestic Violence Victoria, Rita Butera (Safe Steps), Tina Dixson (AWAVA)

Two Critical Issues: Women on Temporary Visas + Housing & Homelessness

Wednesday 23 September 2020 – watch the recording
Speakers: Associate Professor Marie Segrave (MGFVPC), experts from InTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence, Jade Blakkarly (Women’s Information, Support & Housing in the North) & Kate Colvin (Council to Homeless Persons)

Keeping Perpetrators ‘in view’ during the COVID restrictions

Wednesday 21 October 2020 – watch the recording
Speakers: Christine Nixon APM (facilitator), Assistant Commissioner Lauren Callaway, (Family Violence Command) and Detective Sergeant Guy Menhennitt (Bendigo FVIU, Victoria Police), Jacqui Watt (No To Violence), Tania Farha (CEO DV Vic) and Associate Professor Silke Meyer (MGFVPC).

Justice for women during COVID-19

Wednesday 25 November 2020 – watch the recording
Speakers: Emeritus Professor Jude McCulloch, Monash Gender and Family violence Prevention Centre; Magistrate Anne Goldsbrough, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria; Lauren Galvin, Victoria Legal Aid; Helen Matthews, Women’s Legal Service Victoria & Elisa Buggy, Flat Out.

Women’s mental health during COVID-19

Wednesday 16 December 2020 – watch the recording
Speakers: Mischa Barr (Chair of the Women’s Mental Health Alliance and Policy & Health Promotion Manager at Women’s Health Victoria), Amanda Dashwood (Family Violence Specialist Advisor, Mental Health), Jane Fisher (Director of Monash Global & Women’s Health), Jayashri Kulkarni (Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre), Women’s Health Victoria and Naomi Pfitzner (Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre)

Read the Gender-based violence and help-seeking behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic research published by the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre.