Career advice

Definitely one of the biggest rewards from working in this sector, is the enjoyment of supporting people and seeing the positive outcomes.  This is definitely the case for me. Whether it’s working directly with women or mentoring fellow colleagues, I feel like I am making a difference and helping people live their best lives. 

I am also a strong advocate for protecting people’s basic human rights and that everyone has the right to live, to be free, and to feel safe.  

Do you feel the same way?  Then this is probably the helping industry that will suit you and where you can be successful in your chosen role.

The foundation of the family violence sector work lies in feminist and social justice practice developed by workers in refuges, along with women’s and community services.  Over the decades the sector has evolved and adapted to where it is today.  It now encompasses a high level of expertise and specialist practice backed by a sound evidence base. 

Family violence work is known for its gendered nature. 

This means its recognised that women experience violence more frequently, suffer greater injuries, and are at higher risk of being killed by their partner than their male counterparts.  This is particular more so at time of separation.  This is why the sector focus is predominately on women and children. Women and men are not similarly situated in regards to family violence. Have a read of the latest statistics report which states 1 in 6 women and 1 in 16 men have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or previous partner.

However, it is acknowledged that family violence is a violation of human rights and abuse can be experienced by men, women or transgender people. I am against all violence, its never okay.

So, work in this sector isn’t just working with women and their children - it also involves men.  There has been a growth in working with men who perpetrate family violence and this is an emerging area of practice.  Intervention services for men are popping up across Australia, which is great that there is a recognition now that working with men and holistically across the whole family unit is good practice to reduce family violence. 

What sort of roles could I work in, exactly?

This depends on what you are interested in.  The family violence sector works across four main areas:  primary prevention, early intervention, response and post-crisis response.  Have a look at the diagram below.

Source: Women’s Health in the North. (2018) 

The most commonly known jobs in the industry are the refuge support worker, family violence advocate or the family violence counsellor.  However, there are many other specialised roles and countless different types of programs and services available.  If you google for “family violence” or “domestic violence” jobs on the main job sites, you will find a variety of different role types.  For example, I found these job roles when I searched: -

·        Integrated family services team leader

·        Family violence prevention practitioner

·        Men’s behaviour change program group facilitator

·        Specialist women’s case worker

·        Social worker -gendered violence

·        Domestic and family violence counsellor

The family violence sector isn’t a regulated industry as such, even though there are some professionals that work within the industry who are regulated i.e. social workers and psychologists.  This explains why there is such a variant in job roles and names.  Basically, it depends on the funding outputs and outcomes for the contracted organisation, and meeting the needs of the community or a particular cohort.

Have a think of what career path you want.  You may want to work in a refuge or maybe you are looking at prevention, which is a new and emerging area of practice.  Of course, if you have counselling qualifications you may want to look at a specialist counselling role, either in sexual violence or family violence.  There are also specialised roles working with children, so this may also be an area of interest to you.

How to get into a role in the family and sexual violence sector

1.     Do your research

The first logical step is to Google.  Have a look at what jobs are out there.  What interests you?  What knowledge and skills are the advertised jobs asking for?  Do you want to work with women or do you want to do therapeutic work with children and adults?  While you are googling, see what local organisations provide family violence services?  Are their jobs in your region?

As I mentioned before, this sector isn’t regulated so there isn’t a guiding set of required or specific qualifications to practice (unless you are a registered psychologist).  So, once you know which career path you want to go down, I recommend that you take time to look into qualifications and programs available.  You need to make sure they have the coursework and training required to ensure you’re getting the right knowledge and skills for where you want to work.

The sector is moving towards tertiary qualifications for most roles, so I do recommend this if you want a future career working as a specialist practitioner, case or outreach worker, counsellor or team leader.  I have noticed an increase in advertised positions that are now asking for a tertiary qualification under the essential selection criteria.  If you are looking at an undergraduate degree, I recommend social work, psychology, counselling, welfare, behavioural or one in the social sciences.

If you are looking at a support worker role, for example in a women’s refuge, they quite often only require a Diploma level qualification, in Community Welfare work or equivalent.  However, some women’s refuges are now asking for tertiary qualifications so be aware that this may limit where you can work in the future.

Already have a under graduate degree and it’s not related?  Post graduate qualifications are readily available now at a couple of universities in Australia in Domestic and Family Violence.  You can do a Graduate Certificate, Diploma or Masters.  There are also Post Graduate courses for Men’s Behaviour Change Work or Male Family Violence, so if you are interested in working with men, I recommend you look at those.

If working in the prevention field is your ideal job, tertiary qualifications are usually required in health promotion, community development, education and training or similar.  This is a fairly relative new field of practice, particularly in Australia.  So currently there aren’t many courses available.  Do a search and see what you can find.

You will need to price each course you look at and compare what topics they cover.  I went with Central Queensland University for my Graduate Diploma in Domestic and Family Violence Practice and did it over 3 years as I was working full-time (I already had an undergraduate degree in health).

Short courses are also an option to see if this is the industry you would like to work in.  Try the DV Alert course as a starter, its available on line or in person around Australia.

 2.     Talk to people 

Ask those who already work in the sector and find out what learning pathway they took.  If they completed a tertiary qualification, which one and how was that relevant to their role now? Before you invest your dollars, rack up a student debt and commit your valuable time, it’s important to not just rely on the program sites themselves to make your decision. If you don’t know anyone to ask, put a question on social media or email an organisation you would be interested in working for and ask them.  I am sure they would gladly assist you.

Some questions you should consider asking are: how much time commitment per week is required, interaction with other students, support from lecturer or trainer, has it been useful in your current role?  Also remember to ask them about their overall experience with the education body and what feedback was provided. 

3.     Now is the time to commit

Once you make your decision which pathway you are going to follow, the next step is actually enrolling and starting.  Once you start you do need to be very dedicated.  University courses are anywhere between 10 – 15 hours commitment per week per unit, so don’t over commit, work out what you can do and still maintain your work/life balance.  If you are still unsure, try a short course or two, before making the plunge into a tertiary degree. 

Other advice that I would suggest is to find yourself a mentor.  I went back to university as a mature age student and would not have got through without a mentor.  Ask around, see if you can find someone who can provide you with support, guidance and advise you when you need it during your course. 

4.     Get some practical experience

Volunteer with an organisation that you would like to work for.  Some courses do have a practical component you have to complete.  For example, social workers and some community service Certificate IV or Diploma have a day a week at an organisation.  You may run into barriers at some workplaces due to confidentiality and those may not be suitable.  However, some employers do embrace student involvement and are happy to have you learn at their workplace.  This is a great way to get industry experience if you have none.

5.     Update your resume

Down the track or as you are completing your learning, start updating your resume and organise a couple of referees.  Start looking for advertised employment opportunities.  Quite often organisations will employ people who are working towards a qualification.  Provide the evidence of where you are up to in your studies.  Also upskill yourself in how to write a response to the selection criteria.  Don’t be hesitant, working in your prospective environment gives you both onsite learning and experience.  Give it a go.

6.     How much can you expect to earn in your chosen role? 

This again depends on what career path you chose and the employer.  The majority of roles sit within not for profit organisations, who usually don’t have the ability to pay competitively compared to the private sector.  There are a lot of reasons for this (which I won’t go into here), but the main ones are directly related to funding sources, policy and conditions that can change quickly affecting organisational priorities. 

For most of us who chose to work in not for profit organisations, we understand career ambiguity and have a belief that work is about much more than money.  It’s about making an impact beyond ourselves.  Saying that, we have to be able to pay our bills and live, so the good news is that the pay in most family and sexual violence roles is reasonable. Some non-profit organisations do offer additional staff benefits.  Some examples of these are job support, professional development, gifted leave, flexible working hours.  Try and do some research on the organisation if you are applying for a job to see what they offer.  Ask around if you know someone who works there.  What is the working environment? 

In Australia, most non-profit organisations offer salary packaging.  Due to our taxation laws employees are able to salary package their salary, or a range of other items such as your mortgage, rent, private health insurance or use a payment card for everyday living expense.  You can package up to the allowable maximum of $15,900 each FBT year and this significantly reduces the income tax you pay.  Check with your prospective employer if they do offer salary sacrificing as it’s a good benefit and you end up with more money in your pocket. 

Ok - there you have it.  Some key strategies and information on roles in the family violence sector.  What are your thoughts on which pathway you will take?  Please share, let me know of other courses and qualifications you can do. I would love to read your thoughts in the comments section!