In 2016 the Academy started the process of becoming a White Ribbon Accredited School by participating in the White Ribbon Schools Program.
In Australia 1.8 women die per week at the hands of a male partner or former partner and this far outweighs the number of males experiencing violence at the hands of female partners or ex partners, making this very much a gendered issue. Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) costs the Australian economy $14.4billion a year, women who experience FDV face increased health costs and children exposed to FDV experience learning, behavioural, and mental health difficulties. So it is time we make a change.
During our time participating in the program we have had three staff, Bronwyn our Chaplain, Steph our School Psychologist, and Bec one of our Teachers, trained to deliver the White Ribbon Program. We have also included more teaching around Healthy Relationships in our Wellbeing Programs and look forward to participating again in the White Ribbon Day March in Armadale in November. Last year our students were invited to speak at the Department for Child Protection and Family Service’s White Ribbon Day event, where our Student Leader Erin, and teacher Bec spoke about the Academy’s involvement in the White Ribbon Program.
We are now at the tail end of our application to become a White Ribbon Accredited School. From here our school will be writing a case study on our involvement in the program and will make plans to continue our delivery of Healthy Relationship education, and hopefully will be a White Ribbon Accredited School at the start of 2018.
As an organisation, Communicare Inc. is passionate about the prevention of FDV and with statistics showing 1 in 4 children are exposed to FDV the Academy are working hard to ensure we include awareness and prevention information in our curriculum.
We hope that you continue to support us in our efforts to ‘Break the Cycle’ and will support us in ensuring our students are equipped with the information necessary to make healthy choices and seek support.
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