Developing a Vietnamese Men's Behaviour Change Program

Some significant changes were made by this group of Vietnamese women enabled throughthe partner contact, the use of referral services, the men’s changes in behaviour and thewomen’s recognition of violence in their relationship as unacceptable.Outcome 3Some of the learnings have been discussed throughout this report. Further learnings havebeen as follows:• The name of the group. Some men were put off by the title “Vietnamese Men’s FamilyViolence Group” and found “Vietnamese Men’s and Family Violence Group”, moreacceptable.While “Vietnamese Men’s Behaviour Change program” would have been moreacceptable to the men, this could not be used at the time this group was run aswork was occurring to bring the group up to this recognised standard.This title may be a limitation in further culturally and linguistically diverse men’sgroups as there is a developmental process required to become a Men’s BehaviourChange group.• The men’s ability to take responsibility for their behaviour and to acknowledge theiruse of violence took some time to develop. The men came to the group initially asthey saw themselves as “having issues” not necessarily as “using violence”. Themen indeed needed to do considerable learning about what intimate partnerviolence was before they could acknowledge their use of this.• The ability of the men to take up the possibility of partner relationships based ongender equality and the equal value of the different roles they played in the familywas very evident in this group. What was also evident was the need to continuallytackle this area from various vantage points. The benefits to the men’s children andto their relationships with their children were a major point of leverage.• This project needed to be undertaken fully and thoroughly and to do less isdisrespectful to the community with whom we were working. The initial communitydevelopment work and the continued links with the Vietnamese community wereimportant to the project’s success.• A reference group of committed organisations and committed workers are requiredto undertake work with a CALD community regarding family violence, and to makea difference for the men, women and children in that community. The regularmeetings of the partner contact worker, project manager and facilitators made adifference to the safety of these families and the quality of the work in this program.• The development of the facilitators’ skills has taken time, resources and theircommitment to learning. Undertaking mainstream qualifications has not been aneasy process and gaining practicum placements has also not been easy. Theremay need to be some course considerations for CALD workers entering men’sbehaviour change work and seeking qualifications in this area.13