Training and Capacity Programs

WHISE has a range of capacity and capability programs specifically designed to support growth, awareness raising and skill building in the following areas:

Prevention of violence against women

Sexual and reproductive health

Gender equity and Gender Equality

Programs

    Prevention of Violence Against Women

    WHISE is able to provide a range of training sessions to build capability of individuals to prevent violence against women.

    Active Bystander

     

    Across three and a half hours, learners in this training will build their confidence, capacity and understanding of what it means to stand up and call out disrespectful behaviours, everyday sexism and behaviours that lead to violence against women.

    What the training aims to do?

    • Build learners knowledge and understanding of what it means to be an active bystander
    • Provide learners with the opportunity   to understand the drivers of family violence and violence against women and the role that gender equality plays in reducing violence against women
    • Develop knowledge and confidence so that participants know how to be an active bystander in their community and workplace

    Drawing upon the range of concepts and evidence around active bystander behavior, this program seeks to build upon learners own experience of recognizing poor anti-social behaviours and, from a strengths based perspective, build understanding of what tools can be used to challenge any form of discrimination, harassment and bullying.   This program seeks to create a strong framework and foundation of what drives poor behaviours against women, and what creates barriers to equitable workplaces and communities. It also unpacks concepts of resistance to change and gender equality.

    Who should attend?

    This training is designed to be suitable for all learners from a range of settings, workplaces and communities. Scenarios for practice and capability building can be customized depending upon the needs of the participants.

    This session can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your community and/or organisation. Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Do you want to Change the Story?

     

    Introduction to Our Watch’s Change the Story Framework and the system that addresses Family Violence in Victoria, and Australia.

    Our Watch (the national Foundation to prevention violence against women and their children) has been at the forefront of both Australian and International efforts to identify, communicate and address the drivers of violence against women and their children.

    What the training aims to do?

    • The one day program is based upon Change the story, Australia’s national framework to prevent violence against women and their children and covers:
    • The prevalence and impacts of violence against women
    • The link between gender inequality and violence against women
    • What primary prevention of violence against women is
    • The evidence on what drives violence against women
    • The actions required to prevent violence against women and the role that everyone can play in prevention
    • Applying an intersectional approach to primary prevention work
    • Good-practice examples of primary prevention activities
    • Introduction to the policy framework and architecture that addresses and prevents family violence in Victoria and across Australia

    Who should attend

    This one day program is for anyone wanting to lead change in the community, government and business sectors; cultural, faith, sports, education and arts organisations; and beyond!

    Please note: this training is not about how staff can respond to women who experience violence or men who perpetrate violence. Every workplace should also provide basic training to ensure staff can respond to colleagues who are experiencing gendered violence and sexual harassment.

    Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Understanding family violence and violence against women

     

    Family violence is complex, it is troubling and most of all, it impacts all levels of our society and community. This three-hour session is designed to sensitively and appropriately inform members of our community about family violence, its prevalence and what drives family violence and violence against women in our community.

    The program can be tailored for specific settings – workplace, community, health service, education setting – and is delivered with the safety of the participants in mind.

    What the training aims to do?

    • Introduce participants to the types of family violence and violence against women
    • Inform participants about the prevalence of violence and the forums it takes in our community
    • Introduce Our Watch’s Change the Story framework, the drivers of family violence and contributors
    • Build understanding and awareness of what action can be taken to prevent family violence
    • Broadly introduce concepts of intersectionality and how this impacts family violence
    • Build skills on what to do if a victim and or perpetrator of family violence discloses to you

    Who should attend?

    This session is directed to those members of the community, and those staff at workplaces that are just becoming aware of family violence

    This session can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your community and/or organisation. Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Introduction to Our Watch

     

    Workplace Equality and Respect Standards

    Women’s Health in the South East offer Our Watch endorsed training for staff at various levels of your workplace.

    Organisations working towards the Workplace Equality and Respect Standards should provide training to staff to engage them in the equality and respect process.

    What the training aims to do?

    This training covers:

    • the prevalence, types and impacts of violence against women
    • the drivers of violence against women, including the misconceptions about what causes violence against women
    • how violence against women and gender inequality manifest and are reinforced in workplaces
    • practical actions to prevent violence against women and promote gender equality in workplaces

    Who should attend

    The training program can be tailored to deliver capability building to the range of stakeholders involved in implementing and supporting the Standards. Namely:

    1. Implementation Team (4 hours) to introduce the Workplace Equality and Respect standards, process and tools and support them to implement it in their own workplace.
    2. Executive and senior leaders (1-2 hours) to ensure they understand workplace prevention of violence against women and provide support and resourcing for the work.
    3.  Managers (2-3 hours) to support them to recognise the powerful role they play in influencing workplace culture and see how they can actively support gender equality.
    4. All staff (1.5 hours) to introduce the drivers of violence against women and the concept of bystander action.

    Please note: this training is not about how staff can respond to women who experience violence or men who perpetrate violence. Every workplace should also provide basic training to ensure staff can respond to colleagues who are experiencing gendered violence and sexual harassment.

    Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Exploring Gender and Gender Equity

     

    Whether it is in the workplace, the sporting field, the local community group or the local hospital, gender and gender equity impacts all our lives. Being aware of gender, and how we can all make a difference to creating more equitable society is the key focus of this introductory session. Over 3 hours we will explore, gender, gender inequality, what bias is and how to overcome barriers and resistance to achieving equality.

    What the training aims to do?

    • Increase understanding of the social construction of gender, focusing on the impact of masculine and feminine ideology on individuals’ everyday lives
    • Increase understanding of the difference between gender equity and gender equality
    • Increase individuals’ understanding of how gender inequities persist within Australia
    • The link between gender inequality and gender-based violence
    • Provide knowledge and understanding of how gender inequality leads to gender-based violence
    • Increase understanding of the difference between the key drivers and contributing factors of gender-based violence
    • Explore myths and facts of gender-based violence
    • Provide knowledge regarding gender-based violence statistics, on a national and local level

    Who should attend

    WHISE delivers this session to a broad audience and can be delivered to those just starting out to understand the impact of gender and gender equality in our world, or those in senior positions in the workplace and community who are keen to get a more in depth understand,

    This session can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your community  and/or organisation. Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Respectful Relationships

     

    WHISE provides support to schools and education settings who are working through to implement, coordinate, rollout and sustain the Victorian Respectful Relationships strategy. Our approach is based on providing contribution across the whole strategy – from building capacity of teachers in specific areas of content, delivering information sessions to students, supporting school leaders to understand the change journey associated with gender equity, and working with community.

    What the training aims to do?

    Our programs for schools and education settings are all customized to meet the needs of specific settings and sites. Typically our process includes:

    • Interviews with key school leadership
    • Liaison with school authorities (Department of Education and Training offices) on priorities and work being undertaken in the area to leverage outcomes and create buy in
    • Briefing of teaching leaders on Respectful Relationships and the evidence behind the strategy
    • Train the trainer type approaches to build the capability of schools
    • If required delivery of modules and content from the program to students
    • Recommendations and advice on evaluation

    Who should attend?

    WHISE develops these programs and strategies for schools and education providers based on the goals the school wants to achieve, and, available budget.

    Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Train the trainer

     

    Often organisations seek to build the capability of their staff and volunteers to create change, build cultures of equity and prevent violence against women.

    WHISE offers tailor made approaches and strategies to do this whereby the whole organisation builds its capacity on key content areas around gender equity and prevention of family violence.

    What the training aims to do?

    Using customized train the trainer style approaches, our programs typically include:

    • Deep dive into key evidence base and practice in areas of primary prevention of violence and gender equity
    • Build capability in understanding how to manage resistance in learners
    • Information and introduction to strengths based approaches to build capability in adult learners
    • Coaching and follow up support
    • Advice and support to build internal systems and structures that reinforce and support those who will lead the change internally
    • Briefing to senior leadership on change strategy to support buy-in
    • Tailored advice and support to build evaluation systems to support change

    Who should attend?

    WHISE develops these programs and strategies for organisations (for profit, not for profit, public/government and community) based on the goals the organisation wants to achieve, and, available budget.

    Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about where this can provide support to your organisation and community today.

    Sexual and Reproductive Health

    WHISE is able to provide a range of training sessions to build capability of individuals in the areas of sexual and reproductive health.

    Sexuality and Respectful Relationships - Training for youth workers

     

    Training aims

    Across two days this training will:

    • Explore the concept of human sexuality
    • Build the capacity of youth workers to increase own comfort levels in providing sexuality
      education and conversations to young people
    • Delivery of content will be interactive and conversational, in order to provide skills and
      confidence to participants

    Topics include:

    • Overview of Human Sexuality including diversity, childhood & teen development, behaviour and safety, pleasure
    • Violence, disrespect, relationships and the connection with sexuality
    • Supporting children while growing up in a sexualised society
    • Adult’s myths and fears of talking about sex and sexuality to young people
    • Skills and tips for addressing sexual health conversations with young people i.e. contraception, pornography, STIs​

    Who should attend?

    Youth workers in the Southern Metropolitan Region.

    Sexual Lives and Respectful Relationships (SL&RR)

     

    Sexual Lives and Respectful Relationships (SL&RR) developed by Deakin University is a community based model of sexuality education, information and activity that brings people with an intellectual disability together with professionals from community organisations.

    The four-session program is run by Peer Educators (people with an intellectual disability who have been trained to run the program) and Program Partners (WHISE and South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault) have been trained to run the program).

    What are the program aims?

    • Enable people with intellectual disability to discuss and learn about healthy, safe and respectful relationships
    • To bring people together to talk about their rights and share ways to have sexual lives of their choosing
    • To improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities

    Who should attend?

    The training is for anyone with an intellectual disability who wants to talk about and share ideas about having respectful relationships in their lives.

    Please contact the WHISE Health Promotion Team to have a conversation about this program being delivered within your community.

    Further information: https://www.slrr.com.au/

    Gender Equity and Gender Equality

     

    WHISE are the leaders in delivering gender equity capacity building and capability development in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne.

    As active members of the state wide Action for Gender Equality Partnership , we are able to provide a range of training and consultancy services to our region including:

    •  Workplace gender audits and evaluations,
    •  Gender equality training and development,
    • Promoting gender equal health and safety
    • The prevention of gendered violence at home, work and the community
    • Setting gender targets and quotas for proven impact

    WHISE is able to deliver high quality and current capability building programs on:

    • Gender Equality Act and its implementation
    • Gender Audit and Assessment
    • Gender Impact Assessments
    • Gender Action Plans
    • Designing strategic communications for gender equality and equity
    • Quotas, Targets and Strategy to achieve gender equality in organisations