Rotary Geelong East was fortunate to have two Guest Speakers from MELI, talk about their Program (ROAR) for women who have or are subject to domestic violence. The acronym stands for “Reclaiming and Retelling Our Acts of Resistance”
Participants share and exchange stories, strengthen one another and help to build positive futures. The program was co-designed by women who had been previous clients (and had therefore first hand knowledge of domestic violence). The contribution made by the women included not only content that should be covered, but also how the program should be run.
ROAR is designed to build women’s resistance and strengthen empowerment and creates a platform for changing future stories. It is run over eight weeks. Topics include: Sharing our hopes and our futures, Patterns of Violence, Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships, Financial Counselling and Cyber Awareness, Children, Legal Rights, Healthy Boundaries and Changing the Story and Self Care.
The two Guest Speakers were Katie Wheeler a facilitator of the program and Celina Bagley who spoke about the benefits of the program.
Rotary says "No to Family Violence"