Djirra (formerly the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria) is hosting a Sisters Day Out® Workshop for the Aboriginal women of Mildura and surrounding areas this Tuesday 29 May.

The Sisters Day Out workshop is a day that celebrates Aboriginal culture and brings Aboriginal women within the community together for a day of pampering including hairdressing, massage, manicures and more.

“Aboriginal women deal with a lot of stress in their day to day lives. This workshop reminds women to take time out to look after themselves, as well as looking after everyone else,” says Djirra Chief Executive Officer, Antoinette Braybrook.

The Sisters Day Out workshop program, conducted by Djirra, began in 2007. Since then close to 10,000 Aboriginal women have participated in this highly successful program.

As well as pampering, Sisters Day Out features family violence education, including information on how legal and other services can assist women and children to achieve safer outcomes. A Djirra lawyer and a counsellor are available for any women who wish to discuss their situation privately on the day.

“Sisters Day Out breaks down barriers to reporting for Aboriginal victim/survivors of family violence. There is a lot of fear and mistrust about disclosing family violence. At Djirra, we know Aboriginal women experiencing violence won’t just walk through our doors – we need to take our services to the community,” said Ms Braybrook. “Through Sisters Day Out, we provide a culturally safe space in which Aboriginal women can talk about family violence, the impacts on our families and communities, and learn what local supports are available to keep women and their children safe.”

“Tomorrow’s workshop may well be our biggest yet, with more than 300 women
expected to come along,” said Ms Braybrook. “Our numbers at Sisters Day Out are always high but this is a record. There is clearly a strong demand for our critical, culturally safe and specialised supports in this region,” said Ms Braybrook.

This event is funded by the Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation under a four year contract Djirra received to deliver its suite of culturally safe, early intervention and prevention programs. This funding formed part of the State Government’s unprecedented 2017-18 investment into addressing family violence made following the Royal Commission into Family Violence. “After many challenging years of funding uncertainty, we feel positive that we now have the security to focus on our critical early intervention/prevention programs, drawing on Aboriginal women’s resilience to reduce vulnerability to violence. We will be returning to Mildura later this month to deliver a Dilly Bag program and we hope to come back soon to deliver our Young Luv program as well.”

The Mildura Sisters Day Out will take place on Tuesday 29 May from 9:30am to 3:00pm at the Midway Centre, Midway Drive, Baronga. Aboriginal women can attend for free and more than 300 women are already registered. Media may attend by prior appointment only. Djirra provides culturally safe legal assistance, early intervention prevention and community legal education to Aboriginal victims/survivors of family violence and sexual assault.

Media Contact: Laura Vines for Antoinette Braybrook on 0408 812 830 or lvines@djirra.org.au

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