RizeUp Australia’s primary focus is to reduce the incidence of domestic and family violence in Australia. At a practical level, we support families impacted by violence by helping them on their journey from violence to safety. To do this we have created an innovative solution that brings communities together, increases volunteering and makes real, far reaching and practical contributions to these vulnerable families. As a family leaves refuge, we furnish their new accommodation with everything they need to make it a home, so they can make a fresh start. We also support affected children by providing everything they need to happily settle into a new school. RizeUp Australia is a vital part of the service system across Australia and has established strong partnerships with specialist domestic violence services, which enable us to provide fast, flexible solutions to women and children in desperate situations. We have developed processes and policies to underpin a safe, practical response, which enables us to work effectively with more than 578 volunteers and provide an add-value to service that existing specialist domestic violence organisations now depend on. Frontline services rely on RizeUp Australia to safely transition victim/survivors of domestic violence from a life of fear and violence to one of safety and community. Since launching in 2015, we have supported almost 2000 families – all already linked to crisis services across Australia - press the “restart button on a life free from violence”. It is during times of stress that those at risk of family violence are likely to be most in danger, so it is vital women and children have the support they need to enable them to get to a safe place. Our RizeUp Homes Program is supporting up to eight new families every week, who are at the greatest risk of homelessness and homicide. But unfortunately, it’s still not enough as services are inundated with women fleeing violent relationships. While the below factors aren’t the cause of violence, they are contributing factors that may cause violence to escalate: • Financial instability / Job Loss • Drugs and Alcohol consumption • Physical / Mental Health concerns • Imbalance of power and control within the intimate relationship Violence against women is driven largely by gender inequality, the hyper masculine need for power and control and societal pressure reinforcing rigid gender roles within the family unit. When there is disruption to these existing stereotypes there is an increase of violence against women.
