Practice monograph: responses to refugee women with multiple trauma experiences

A Practice Monograph addressing practitioner responses to refugee women has been released by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse.

Improving responses to refugees with backgrounds of multiple trauma: Pointers for practitioners in domestic and family violence, sexual assault and settlement services provides insightful contributions into working with refugee women who have histories of trauma, including torture, sexual violence and domestic and family violence.

The contributions address:

• practice issues for domestic and sexual violence workers;
• practice issues for settlement workers;
• practice issues for men's workers; and
• a tool to assist practitioners across sectors to understand the vulnerabilities that may place women at risk of further harm or trauma.

The contributors, recognised for their expertise and experience in the field, collectively highlight the need for cross-sectoral collaborations, multiagency responses and input from the women themselves to develop appropriate responses to women who have multiple trauma experiences. 

The Australian contributors include:

• Dr Lana Zannettino, Flinders University;
• Dr Eileen Pittaway, Ms Rebecca Eckert, Dr Linda Bartolomei, Centre for Refugee Research (CRR), University of New South Wales;
• Ms Annabelle Allimant and Ms Beata Ostapiej-Piatkowski, Harmony Place, Brisbane;
• Dr Jill Harris, Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC).