Youth United Against Family Violence is a youth-led project that aims to raise community awareness of family violence through the eyes of young people.
10 Youth Ambassadors participated in the 20 week project. They completed a range of capacity building workshops, delivered by Youth and Family Services, to increase their understanding of the drivers of family violence and its impacts.
The Youth Ambassadors developed key messages that they crafted into three adverts, filmed and produced by Momentum Studios Australia.
These adverts explore various components of family violence within the overarching theme; “Family violence affects young people too”. The Youth Ambassadors hope that this campaign will help to raise community awareness of some of the more subtle forms of family violence, and the impacts that this issue has on the lives of young people.
Family Violence Prevention Campaign
1. That’s Control, Not Love
This video seeks to showcase that controlling and emotionally abusive behaviours are a form of family violence.
Content warning: This video contains verbal abuse which may be confronting for some viewers. If watching this brings up anything for you, please refer to the Information and Support section of this page.
2. Don’t Stand By, Stand Up
This video emphasises bystander action and aims to encourage viewers to stand up against family violence by calling the behaviour out.
The Youth Ambassadors chose to showcase image-based abuse in this video, as they wanted to raise awareness of this increasingly common form of family violence. Image-based abuse is when someone takes, shares, or threatens to share, nude or sexual photos without the consent of the person in the photo. It includes images that were taken both with and without a person’s consent.
3. Your Actions Impact Everyone
This video seeks to highlight that family violence affects everyone in the home. The Youth Ambassadors wanted to emphasise that although young people aren’t always the victim of abuse, they are often indirectly impacted. The effects of this can accumulate over time, negatively impacting young people’s wellbeing and safety.
Content warning: This video contains verbal abuse which may be confronting for some viewers. If watching this brings up anything for you, please refer to the Information and Support section of this page.
Complementary Resources
Awareness posters
The adverts are accompanied by a suite of posters highlighting key messages from the campaign. These are a resource which can be used to support conversations and reinforce key messages. Please contact Youth and Family Services to request downloadable, high resolution copies of these posters.
Youth United Against Family Violence Posters - 421KB
Educational workshops
Youth and Family Services have also developed a series of workshops for young people, available to be delivered to groups of young people (aged 12 to 25) upon request. These workshops may be tailored to suit the needs of your group. Topics include:
- Respectful relationships
- Cyber abuse, including image-based abuse
- Help-seeking and support
Workshop Overview - Youth United Against Family Violence - 1.7MB
For more information, or to make a booking enquiry, please contact us on 9793 2155.
Information and Support
If the content of these videos has raised any concerns for you contact:
1800RESPECT
1800 737 732
Confidential information, counselling and support service, available 24/7 for people impacted by family violence.
Kids Helpline
1800 55 1800
A free, private and confidential phone and online counselling service, available 24/7 for young people aged 5 to 25.
Lifeline
13 11 14
A free 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention service.
Safe Steps
1800 015 188
A family violence support service that offers assistance to women and children experiencing family violence through their 24/7 phone line and specialist support services.
To find out more information
For further information, please contact Youth and Family Services on:
Phone: 9793 2155
Email: youthservices@cgd.vic.gov.au
Facebook: facebook.com/cgdyouthservices
Instagram: greaterdandenongyouthservices