Women's Health West's approach and values

We are the women's health and family violence service for the Western Region. Our core business includes health information services for individual women, and health promotion through development and delivery of innovative community development programs.

We engage in research and advocacy on key issues of women's health and wellbeing, and provide consultation and training for health and community workers. We provide information, referral and a range of support programs for women and children affected by family violence.

We prioritise initiatives that: address structural inequalities, target high-need groups, address service gaps, extend our influencing capacity, build partnerships, draw on our expertise, are feasible, enable a whole-of-agency approach, are sustainable and contribute to our learning and that of the sector.

OUR VALUES

Women's Health West:

Acts to support women and promote empowerment.
Recognises and respects women's experience, contribution and life choices.
Acknowledges and embraces the diversity of women.
Actively and unequivocally promotes the universal human right of women and children to live without the fear or experience of violence.
Supports the social model of health framework using community development and gender analysis approaches.
Commits to ensuring our values are reflected in practice.

KEY ISSUES

Sexual and reproductive health
Mental wellbeing and social connectedness including alcohol and other drug use
Family violence, including its affects on children
The health impacts of intimate partner violence
The right to decent, affordable housing
Ensuring services are responsive to diverse women's needs

KEY TARGET POPULATIONS

Women and children affected by family violence
Women with a disability, including women who have experienced mental illness
Women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds
Newly-arrived and refugee women, including from the Horn of Africa and the Balkans
Women living in the outer West, growth corridors and Neighbourhood Renewal areas
Women who are socially isolated, including mothers and older women
Women with diverse sexual identities, including young lesbian women
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
Women at all stages of the life cycle, including young, menopausal and older women
Women who are carers of children and other family members