Overview

Sikh Australian Support for Family Violence (SASFV) is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing culturally appropriate counselings to the Sikh Australian community, and broader culturally and diverse (CALD) community.

SASFV use their collaborative partnerships with professionals and service providers to ensure we are able to provide counselling to families to the support they need when facing family violence.

Who we are?

At SASFV we come together as a team of professionals who are passionate and committed to our vision. Our staff and volunteers serve our community with the empathy, impartiality and integrity required to understand the individual and diverse contexts of our clients.

What we do?

Provide culturally safe counselling for victims of family violence in the Sikh Australian community, and boarder culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community.

Our Vision

Through culturally safe counselling program, our families are safe, happy and healthy

Our Mission

Provide culturally safe counselling to couples and families in the community to support healthier relationships

Our Values

Because of the various backgrounds of CALD communities, there are often misconceptions of what family violence is and all that it encompasses, which can lead to confusion among victims and perpetrators once they come to live in Australia. As a result communities are often not aware of:

What constitutes family violence
The consequences of family violence
How to seek help
What help is available, or
How to prevent it.

Provide culturally safe counselling for victims of family violence and other vulnerable members of the Sikh community

Counselling can be an effective way to relieve distress and improve your mental health. Our volunteer counsellors are qualified and experienced professionals, able to provide ongoing, and culturally safe counselling and mediation services. We also provide referrals to other providers depending on your needs, this may include food relief, housing assistance, financial assistance, material aid and legal assistance.

Supporting victims of family violence through response, empowerment and referral to relevant and culturally safe service providers

SASFV provide a confidential Telephone Support Line for victims or perpetrators to call when they are experiencing or have experienced family violence and are not sure of how or where to seek support. Victims and perpetrators are also able to contact SASFV via Email, Website Chat or Social Media to seek information or support for family violence.

SASFV Family Support Workers are available to be the first point of call, as a culturally safe and trusted service. Our staff and volunteers speak community languages and are well trained in being able to support clients experiencing family violence situations. SASFV staff have a comprehensive knowledge of the service system and can provide individualised information and empower clients, through a simpler more accessible referral process, to seek and obtain the support that they need.

The family violence, and wider support service system is difficult to navigate even when you are familiar with Australian social services. Victims and perpetrators of family violence have to navigate this system while managing the fear of what may happen to themselves or their families. SASFV clients also have the added layer of language and cultural barriers, which make it even more difficult to comfortably access the services that they need. SASFV staff and volunteers understand the intersectionality that our clients face, through their own lived experience, and are able to better support our clients with empathy and compassion.

Building networks and collaborating with local service providers to ensure that victims have access to a range of services to meet individual need

Ensuring that SASFV builds and maintains networks and collaborative relationships with service providers in our area, ensures that our staff and volunteers have the knowledge and connections to be able to best support our clients. We connect with a wide range of service providers because we know a holistic approach to supporting victims of family violence is required to ensure needs are adequately met.

These relationships also allow us attend provider networks and forums to bring community feedback directly to service providers, government departments and relevant authorities as a platform for discussion and advocacy for an improved, more collaborative, client-focused service delivery system.

Our History