8 New Resources for Volunteer Leaders | August 2024

Discover new resources for volunteer leaders, including the latest reports:

#1: Make Decisions Real Resources

Supported Decision Making is about helping people with a disability make their own decisions with the right support. These free resources have been developed to increase the knowledge and skills of people with an intellectual disability, and the people who support them, when making decisions. 

#2 Strengthening Democracy Research Project  

The Scanlon Institute’s Strengthening Democracy Project considered how Australians, the media and politicians talk about democracy and what should inform the design of place-based community programs that aim to foster democratic resilience or social cohesion. 

Based on the project’s findings, the Scanlan Institute created the Social Cohesion Compass to enable individuals and organisations to research and plan programming to support social cohesion and democratic resilience. This is a data visualisation tool that allows users to better understand how Local Government Areas are progressing when it comes to building democratic resilience and social cohesion.  

#3: Gambling Awareness Campaign for Parents  

The NSW Government has launched a new GambleAware campaign to educate parents and carers about how they can reduce young people’s risk of gambling harm now and in future. Through the use of video content, it provides practical tips and encourages open conversations with young people about gambling, and provides further information about gaming, gambling advertising and parental influence. 

#4: Report on Supported Playgroups 

The Department of Communities and Justice published a report (June 2024) summarising the evidence base for supported playgroups by Justice Family and Community Services Insights, Analysis and Research (FACSIAR).  

The report found that supported playgroups can improve child outcomes, including language, cognition, behaviour, socialisation, and transition to school, and parent outcomes, including attachment, responsiveness, and social connection. 

The report includes looking at best practice elements that can guide playgroup design, service planning and implementation.  

For more information, read the full report and a summary,

#5: Jean Hailes Resources 

Jean Hailes for Women’s Health is a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving women’s health across Australia through every life stage.  

Jean Hailes has a variety of free resources about many aspects of women’s health, including checklists, podcasts, Easy Read and translated fact sheets, and resources for First Nations people.  

Find answers to some of most asked questions about Women’s health topics and a new guide to healthy ageing on the website.

#6: Guide to Common Myths and Misconceptions About Racism

Myths and misconceptions often prevent us from having meaningful conversations about race or addressing racism. The Human Rights Commission racism guide was developed to support people to build confidence in identifying and thinking critically about things that arise when learning about race and racism in Australia. 

#7: Domestic Violence Identification and Response for Refugee Women in Settlement Services

The Safety and Health after Arrival (SAHAR) study, funded by the Australian Research Council and Settlement Services International (SSI), introduced and evaluated a culturally tailored domestic violence (DV) identification and response strategy with women accessing five refugee settlement services in NSW. 

Women from refugee and migrant backgrounds are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society to intimate partner violence. Around one-third of these women are estimated to experience violence from their partners. As they are less likely to disclose, they are also more likely to remain in abusive relationships than other women. 

Their vulnerability during resettlement is compounded by family separation, pre-arrival trauma, and limited support networks. Language, visa status and little knowledge of services all create additional barriers. 

Identifying intimate partner violence is crucial to women taking steps toward safety. One way to do this is through universal screening. In the study this involved asking all women attending a refugee settlement service some short, validated questions about current or recent experiences of being hit or hurt by their partner.

In the study refugee women ranked the care shown by the female settlement workers and talking to someone in their own language as the most important factors enabling a frank discussion of domestic violence.  

Learn more on The Conversation or read the research paper online.

#8: NSW Multicultural Centre for Women’s and Family Safety

Settlement Services International (SIS) delivers a range of human services that connect individuals, families and children from diverse backgrounds with opportunities – from settlement support, to disability programs, community engagement initiatives and training and employment pathways.

Read about SSI services and how the Adira Centre is implementing Supporting U, a program which builds the capacity of female social responders within multicultural communities to address domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV).

More Resources

Find all your volunteer management resources in one place, including editable forms, eLearning modules and training videos, visit the Knowledge Base library.