Actions Panel
Undercurrent Vic. Public Workshop Series 2019
Date and time
Location
IRL Infoshop
28d Ashley Street West Footscray Melbourne, Victoria 3012 AustraliaDescription
Undercurrent's Public Workshop Series 2019
A series of conversations about relationships, family violence/intimate partner violence, sex and communication, supporting people who have experienced harm, accountability and transformative justice. Our aim is to normalise these conversations, create spaces for dialogue and encourage ourselves and each other to talk more about these issues within our friendships, families and communities.
- Tuesday June 11th, 6.15-9pm: Exploring Relationship Myths and Values
- Tuesday July 9th, 6.15-9pm: Sex, Sexuality and Communication
- Tuesday August 6th, 6.15-9pm: Understanding Family Violence
- Tuesday September 3rd, 6.15-9pm: Supporting People Who Have Experienced Harm
- Tuesday October 1st, 6.15-9pm: Accountability For People Who Have Caused Harm
- Tuesday October 29th, 6.15-9pm: Transformative Justice: Building Communities Who Can Respond To Family Violence/Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault
Tuesday June 11th - Exploring Relationship Myths and Values
This workshop will explore common myths and assumptions about relationships. We will discuss the ways that social values have shaped our ideas of what relationships should look like and the ways that power and control operate in relationships.
Tuesday July 9th - Sex, Sexuality and Communication
This workshop will examine different values we have around sex, discussing some of the ways that people express and embody their sexuality and sexual identities and different approaches for communicating preferences, needs and desires. We will discuss ways that social and structural power dynamics affect communication, and how we can more consciously address power within our sexual relationships.
Tuesday August 6th - Understanding Family Violence
This workshop will explore an intersectional framework for understanding the prevalence of family violence in both heterosexual and LGBTIQ+ contexts. We will explore some common beliefs about the causes of family violence and how these beliefs impact both people who have experienced harm and people who have caused harm.
Tuesday September 3rd - Supporting People Who Have Experienced Harm
This workshop will explore approaches, tools and important considerations for when someone shares their experiences of violence with you. We will discuss risk and safety, how to centre survivor autonomy, examine the ways that social and political power structures can affect a person's capacity to seek/access support, as well as exploring what we can do to address these barriers.
Tuesday October 1st - Accountability For People Who Have Caused Harm
This workshop will explore frameworks, strategies and dialogue ideas for engaging someone who has enacted harm to move towards accountability and non-violence. We will discuss contradictions between our ideals and our practices. We will also explore how our communities reflect structures which enable abuse and assault to happen unchecked and explore strategies for change.
Tuesday October 29th - Transformative justice: building communities who can respond to family violence, intimate partner violence and sexual assault
This workshop will explore community accountability and transformative justice approaches to preventing and responding to family violence, intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Criminal legal responses are often the main or only option made available to people experiencing violence, despite often being ineffective. This workshop will explore how we can collectively create meaningful pathways to safety that don’t force people to rely solely on police and prisons, building the capacity of our communities to prevent and respond to violence.
The workshops are FREE to attend and limited to 30 participants. They are designed to build from one another, but they also stand alone, which means you may attend one, some or all of them.
The workshops are not designed as professional development for community sector workers. If you are interested in professional development please contact us at info@undercurrentvic.com.
Organised by
Undercurrent is a non-profit organisation focused on community education, building healthy relationships and challenging the attitudes, beliefs and actions that enable violence, with an emphasis on intimate partner/family violence, violence in LGBTIQ+ relationships, and gendered violence. Based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, we are a diverse and experienced team of volunteers who run engaging, discussion-based workshops with secondary schools, community groups, organisations, TAFEs/Vocational Education and universities, and for the public. We develop and deliver comprehensive programs that cover healthy relationships, family violence and sexual assault, sex education, gender and sexuality, support and accountability, consent and communication. We center people who have experienced or are experiencing violence. Our project is informed by transformative justice and intersectional feminism.