A forum in Tamworth tomorrow will tackle one of the trifecta of top troubles our regional society faces right now.
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While advocates for justice and policing refer to it as a scourge, domestic violence (DV), along with the drug epidemic of ice, or methamphetamine, in our young, and the pervading grip of mental illness in our towns, sits high on our charts of major problems we are dealing with.
Tomorrow’s forum is another step in a fight to curb what has become a cancer in our community.
It will bring together those in the frontline of the fight against domestic violence, but it also offers an opportunity for the rest of us to take part, to provide personal information, to get details of what’s around to help and assist victims, and to spread the professional knowledge of how to combat domestic violence and work at providing more understanding of the entire issue.
The forum is on from noon until 5pm at Wests’ Diggers in Kable Ave, so there’s hours of time to make the effort to attend.
The statistics behind regional DV figures are staggering.
One in four Tamworth women experience domestic violence. It might sound like a frightening statistic, but it is fact, according to those on the frontline.
Across the Oxley police command last year there were 2800 reported incidents of DV – that’s seven calls for help every day.
Local refuge workers cite an increase in the incidence of DV, mostly against women, of course.
They say nearly seven of every 10 women who access help from them are the victims of DV.
While programs such as White Ribbon and Staying Home, Leaving Violence do much to tackle the problem in different ways, there is still a huge black hole in how we handle and hope to reduce DV.
Education and awareness are seen as the vital tools of attack.
In days gone by, like the 1950s, it was a problem we left behind closed doors. It was not talked about, and certainly in many cases, never confronted. Either by family, friends or the force of the law.
Silence condoned it on many occasions and most turned a blind eye.
It still suffers today from some black armband mentalities as well, although not quite so blind as in our recent past. But it still is excused some times. And it is still avoided in many cases.
Domestic violence isn’t always about physical violence either. It exists as sexual, as psychological, as financial, and as verbal, abuse.
The Tamworth forum will hopefully open some more doors on treating it for the cancer it is.