Former AFL footballer and Marngrook Footy Show panelist, Alan Thorpe, is one of the driving forces behind Dardi Munwurro, an Indigenous organisation that runs unique programs for the perpetrators of family violence.
Family violence is a major problem that continues to devastate Indigenous communities:
– Indigenous women are up to 35 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence than non- Indigenous Australian women (The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022);
– Indigenous women and girls are 31 times more likely to be hospitalised due to domestic and family violence related assaults compared to non-Indigenous women and girls (Productivity Commission’s Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report 2011);
– There was a 60 per cent increase in the number of children entering out-of-home care between 2013 and 2015 with family violence, alcohol and substance abuse the main factors (Always Was, Always Will Be, Koori Children report, Andrew Jackomos – Victoria’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, 2016);
– Indigenous children comprise 17 per cent of all children in out-of-home care in Victoria, it is estimated that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders made up 0.9 per cent of the Victorian population (2011 Census).
Dardi Munwurro, meaning strong spirit, is the only organisation in Australia that deals with the issue of family violence in Indigenous communities, by working with the main perpetrators of the violence – Indigenous men.
Since 2000, the organisation has run programs for Indigenous men which aims to break the cycle of family violence.
The programs take the men through a series of workshops dealing with identity, loss of culture, behaviour change and anger management.
After the program the men keep in touch with Dardi Munwurro through regular fortnightly meetings. The programs are also run in men’s prisons.
Close to 1000 Indigenous men have taken part in the programs since they were established, and evaluations consistently show that the programs are effective.
“In one case, we had someone who started the program in prison, he followed up with us after getting out and now he’s reconnected with his kids,” Mr Thorpe said.
Dardi Munwurro only has the resources to operate in Victoria, but would like to take their programs all over the country, he said.
