Gippsland experiences high rates of family violence incidents with rates in Latrobe, East Gippsland and Wellington some of the highest in Victoria.
This was revealed in two papers co-produced by Gippsland Primary Health Network (Gippsland PHN), Gippsland Women’s Health (GWH) and Gippsland Family Violence Alliance (the Alliance) to highlight the issues, crime reporting and associated impacts of family violence and violence against women and children in Gippsland.
Gippsland PHN Acting Chief Executive Officer, Angela Jacob, welcomed the opportunity to work collaboratively with GWH and the Alliance on addressing the important issue of family violence in the community.
“This work involves identifying where services are needed most and ensuring the healthcare sector is well placed to support those in need of help,” Mrs Jacob said. “We provide evidence-based mental health services and wellbeing support programs.
“We must also ensure there is access to evidenced-based education and training for general practitioners, allied health and other professionals who are dealing with these issues every day. As part of this we are developing a localised family violence pathway and associated referral pages for health professionals.”
Read the media release below.
