Research shows as many as one in two Australian children are growing up in violent homes. It's a shocking statistic that has experts and advocates calling for more to be done to keep young people safe from harm. They say a good place to start is better equipping teachers and doctors to identify signs a child is at risk, and support them to respond appropriately.
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00:00Do they feel safe at home?
00:04These doctors are learning how to spot signs a young patient is living in a violent home
00:09and importantly, how to help.
00:12If clinicians can do that, then survivors and their children tell us that this is really
00:18helpful to them.
00:19They feel as if they have an ally.
00:21Do you ever feel afraid?
00:23It's a skill Melbourne GP Magdalena Simonis has mastered.
00:27As you go through your career you need to elect to upskill in this space and you need
00:32to actually make that conscious decision that this is something that you really need to
00:35learn more about.
00:37That's because family violence education makes up just three hours of a trainee doctor's
00:42curriculum.
00:43I don't think that GPs on the whole feel confident identifying the subtle signs of family violence.
00:52That Kelsey says is a missed opportunity.
00:55Doctor, family and friends, doctors are the most trusted group victims confide in.
01:00They're perfectly placed to pick up on the signs and symptoms and to ask in a sensitive
01:07way and provide a first line response.
01:10Thanks to state and federal funding, Kelsey and her team have trained more than a thousand
01:15health workers in recent years.
01:18It is not sufficient.
01:20We need more funding to equip such a large workforce.
01:25Family violence education is a compulsory component of teacher training in Australia.
01:30Once qualified, educators are given a refresher course every three years.
01:35But there's an unprecedented teacher shortage plaguing this country.
01:40Some teachers who spoke to the ABC said they were so stretched it was not only impacting
01:46education delivery and their wellbeing, but also their ability to support children in
01:52crisis.
01:53What they're facing in schools is a systemic failure to actually provide them with the
01:58resources that they need to support and cater for those children.
02:02Sue Wiebeck heads up a family violence crisis service in Canberra.
02:06She believes upskilling doctors and teachers makes sense.
02:10The community and the service system around children right now, we're letting them down.
02:15And young lives depend on that changing.