Partnership with EveryMan Australia
Toora Women Inc. and EveryMan Australia have a long history of interagency partnership.
As gender-specialist providers to client populations with complex needs, we recognised our common issues, interests, principles and concerns many years ago, and developed a lasting interagency relationship which grew inevitably towards collaboration and service partnerships.
In 2016, Toora and EveryMan Australia entered into a formal partnership arrangement. This partnership allows for coordinated gendered service delivery, with each agency providing specialist knowledge to the other to enhance the provision of support services to their clients and/or clients’ partners. For instance, a man with children escaping domestic violence may be housed in a Toora property but his case management support will be provided by EveryMan. Alternatively, Toora may provide support to a female partner of an EveryMan client.
To our knowledge, this is the first formal partnership to bring together a women’s and men’s support service in Australia.
Examples of collaborations where access to gender-specialist knowledge and skills improve outcomes for both women and men include:
- Gender-specific case management and support services to partners and families being supported by both agencies.
- Joint programs of ongoing professional development and clinical supervision.
- An Indigenous Reference Group formed by Indigenous staff of both agencies to advise and make recommendations on organisational and service matters to deliver and improve culturally appropriate employment practices and client services.
Building Respectful Families Program
A collaboration between Toora and EveryMan, the Building Respectful Families Program provides coordinated gender-specific service delivery to couples with or without children who are seeking support to reconfigure patterns of violence and abuse. As a joint initiative, the program is able to work with both the perpetrator and the victim to provide separate but coordinated support. This approach produces stronger results, including more respectful and workable relationships and better safety within families.