Upcoming Events
2HR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE BYSTANDER TRAINING WORKSHOP
APRIL 5, 10am-12pm Forestville RSL, 22 Melwood Ave Forestville Join in this opportunity to learn some of the basics of domestic violence and abuse and gender inequality, as well as some helpful and proactive bystander approaches to prevention. The workshop is based on the Griffith University MATE course and Bystander Approach to the Prevention of Domestic Violence, of which Dr Julia Poole is a trained instructor (more on that/her below). The event is hosted by the Forest Kirk Uniting Church Domestic Violence and Abuse Task Group. This is the sixth time we have run these workshops, as each time attendees have shared about feeling equipped, resourced, and encouraged with information and strategies to speak up, intervene, and be alert to DVA in their workplaces, communities, and friendships. On the day, Dr Julia Poole will present, covering topics such as
To register please email the church. |
THREE DAY MATE BYSTANDER TRAIN THE TRAINER MAY 22-24 We have been fortunate enough to receive a generous grant allowing us to bring a team down from Griffith University to run a train the trainer course on their bystander approach to responding to domestic violence. You can see more about the program here. MATE is an education and intervention approach in the prevention of violence and problematic behaviour. The bystander approach focuses not on the perpetrator or victim of violence rather, what we can all do to prevent violence in our homes, workplaces, schools and communities. The training will run on May 22-24 (10am-5pm) at Forestville RSL. We are receiving Expressions of Interest for the training, so if you are interested please send us an email at forestkirkuc[@]gmail.com or you can register your interest through our EventBrite Page. Numbers are capped for the training to work most effectively, so we will need to consider suitability of applicants and their ability to provide the training following certification. If you are passionate about equality and preventing violence in our homes, workplaces, schools and communities, and motivated to teach primary prevention, this is the workshop to equip you with the skills to make a difference. Upon successful completion of this workshop you will gain a Griffith University Micro Credential to facilitate MATE cultural change workshops to people within your organisation. You will be provided with tools to develop your own workshops and ongoing support from the MATE team. The course is fully funded, fee free, and a light lunch will be provided each day. |
Past Events
On June 17, 2022 we held the following community forum:
Family and domestic violence and abuse remains a pervasive issue in our community. We are confronted with statistics, tragic stories on the news, and advertising on bus stops reminding us of the complexity of the situation and imploring us to intervene when we spot red flags. And yet, many still wonder how to best respond to disclosures or suspicions of abuse, how to respond when someone makes a troubling comment, and how to be someone that a loved one could trust with their story. This evening is designed to assist with those questions, to help us feel ready to respond positively when we might need to. The evening featured an expert panel comprising: CEO of Women and Children First (which oversees three local women's & children's refuges) A member of the Court Advocate's Office A Professional Counsellor (experienced working with DVA survivors) Trained Instructor of Bystander Training (who teaches how to be an active and impactful bystander) The night also included personal testimony of survival. |
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We are hosted a panel discussion (and Q&A) at the Kirk on May 18, 2023 entitled The Spectre of Death. The panel was composed of Dr Anthony Rees, Rev Mary Pearson, and Rev Dr Raymond Joso.
The interest of the night is less about life after death and more about life before death (in the sense of before a horizon). How does death shape life? Give life its meaning and shape? Indeed how does the reality of death create life as we know it? Beyond this why is it that death elicits a mix of revulsion and fascination, denial and purpose? The panel and Q&A will help us consider theological and biblical resources that can help us respond to these questions, shape the way we live, enrich the practices we develop to face and mark death. |
The problem with all thinking about death, as I see it, is that it takes death for granted. Death is an absolute circumstance to us, and therefore we have great difficulty thinking that death may be unnecessary. But if that is so, the question then becomes one of what death adds to life, of what is it good for, and what it does. If the answer to that question is that death makes room for more life, the question then becomes one of what that might be good for. Certainly, more life opens up the possibility of new life, and new life alters the balance of existing conditions, creating challenges to which they must adapt, which is to say yet more change. Death is what makes evolution possible. We are just as unneccessary as death, and however odd it may sound, our presence here is more closely attached to death than to life. Death created us.
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Morning Star (Penguin Random House, 2020).
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Morning Star (Penguin Random House, 2020).