Meeting the needs of male victims of domestic and family violence - Part 5 of 7
Channel: OneInThreeCampaign
Date: 2011-08-03

This is a broadcast of a Panel Session called Meeting the needs of male victims of domestic and family violence, presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology's Meeting the needs of victims of crime conference held in Sydney on 19 May 2011.

Part 3 of the Panel Session features Greg Andresen, researcher and media liaison with Men's Health Australia, presenting a paper called Meeting the needs of male victims of family violence and their children.

Contrary to common beliefs, around one in three victims of family violence and abuse is male. While many services and community education programmes have quite rightly been established over the past four decades to support female victims of family violence, the needs of male victims remain largely unmet. Male victims of family violence and their children are one of the most underserved populations of victims of crime in Australia, with appropriate and tailored services being almost non-existent. This paper will present a brief overview of what is required to meet the needs of Australian male victims of family violence and their children. It will:

• Present the often unheard voices of male victims of family violence and their children
• Describe the specific experiences of male victims of family violence and their children (barriers to disclosing and finding support; different forms of abuse; impacts upon victims and their children)
• Review the scant support currently available in Australia for male victims of family violence and their children
• Outline the support required in order for the needs of male victims of family violence and their children to be met
• Discuss recent overseas and Australian support initiatives for male victims of family violence and their children that could be adopted more broadly.