Members and supporters are invited to join us in marking our 25th anniversary by being part of a discussion with two significant and fascinating women who make a valuable contribution to the discourse around tackling gender inequality, the role of media, women’s leadership and many more areas. Mary Delahunty, award winning journalist and a Victorian State Minister and Clementine Ford, writer and journalist who has just published her first book Fight Like Girl.

Register your seat early before it books out! RSVP by 4 November

Following the great work DELWP Grampians has achieved through Act@Work, DELWP Loddon Mallee has now indicated an interest to also do the program. Women’s Health Grampians and Women's Health Loddon Mallee will work in partnership on this project beginning November 2016. The program will involve 160-250 DELWP staff from three different sites across their region. This new initiative reflects both the value of the program, and also the commitment DELWP have towards preventing violence against women.  

WHG is pleased to be able to support all Central Highlands Councils planning their next Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plans. We will be able to:

1. Provide up to date data on prevention of violence against women, gender equity and sexual and reproductive health for each region;
2. Review drafts and provide constructive feedback relating to women’s health priorities; and
3. Attend consultations or working group meetings to support councils to develop strategies that reflect local and regional women’s health initiatives.

Sexual Reproductive Health: Ballarat Community Health are leading a project to implement condom vending machines in Ballarat. WHG are supporting this project as an effort to increase access to contraceptive choices for young people in the community.

For more information or support in this region, please contact Dee Micevski at dee@whg.org.au or 5322 4100. *|END:IF|*

*|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*Presentations by Professor Steven Allender and  Andrew Brown from the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre of Obesity Prevention at Deakin University, focussed on using systems thinking, innovation and creativity in developing new solutions to our most complex health challenges.

The Grampians Pyrenees SRH Working Group is a small network of passionate and committed people meeting bi-monthly. The aim for this group is to improve sexual and reproductive health across the region by raising  awareness and reducing stigma. We are currently working to improve access to contraception for young people who face particular issues around privacy and access to services. The group is made up of school nurses, clinicians and health promotion workers.

Minister for Women, Fiona Richardson, hosted a Victorian Gender Equality Strategy Consultation in Ararat on 4 August. With 50 local and regional attendees, round table conversations provided great insight into how the state government can promote gender equality in a rural and regional context, and most importantly, what is appropriate for the Grampians region. Key themes from discussions included empowering women's economic security, workplace culture and bystander training, and galvanising our collective efforts to improve equality for women through initiatives like the CoRE Plan. We look forward to seeing the Gender Equality Strategy to be released later this year.

Congratulations to our local government areas Pyrenees Shire, Ararat Rural City and Northern Grampians for the membership of the Communities of Respect and Equality Regional Plan. We are very excited to have 100% engagement from the councils and foresee that this will provide a consistent style of partnership for positive change with and for our communities .

For more information or support in this region, please contact Kate Souter at kates@whg.org.au or 5322 4100.*|END:IF|*

Act@Work has now commenced in the Wimmera region. Both Rural Northwest Health and Yarriambiack Shire Council have both commenced with action group meetings, benchmark surveys and all staff briefing sessions booked to run in October and November. Wimmera Uniting Care have also recently signed on to participate,*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* Read More *|END:IF|* *|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* and  the Municipal Association of Victoria has awarded funding to extend the Act@Work program across all four Wimmera Council’s.

To increase our capacity to deliver Act@Work training, WHG  hosted a Train the Trainer program in Horsham on 15 September. 9 new trainees were inducted into the program including staff from Vic Police, CAFs, Grampians Community Health and a couple of independent facilitators. Carolynne, Dee, Kate (WHG) and Graham (CAFS) enjoyed the opportunity to share their expertise and are looking forward to presenting with our new trainers in the months ahead.

WHG is pleased to be able to support all Wimmera Councils planning their next Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plans. We will be able to:

1. Provide up to date data on prevention of violence against women, gender equity and sexual and reproductive health for each region;
2. Review drafts and provide constructive feedback relating to women’s health priorities; and
3. Attend consultations or working group meetings to support councils to develop strategies that reflect local and regional women’s health initiatives.

Wimmera White Ribbon Day Committee are planning for a street march on 25 November. The team have been meeting monthly and have undertaken a Strategic Planning process that is still being finalised. Grampians Community Health are providing administrative support to the WRD committee volunteers.
The Wimmera Football League White Ribbon Round and Keg for a Cause recently raised $3000 which will go towards accommodation in the region for women and children affected by family violence.

For more information or support in this region, please contact Carolynne Hamdorf at carolynne@whg.org.au or 5322 4100.*|END:IF|*

We held our fifth Community of Practice for the Prevention of Violence Against Women in Beaufort in early September, with 33 people attending from a range of organisations and from across the region. We explored the topic of Unconscious Bias & Promoting Gender Equality. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* Read More *|END:IF|**|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*Our key note speaker Dr Victor Sojo, from the Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne explained the impact of subliminal attitudes and assumptions on opportunities for women in a workplace. Audience feedback showed they enjoyed the presentation and valued Dr Sojo's strategies to minimise bias. 

Craig Whiteford, Regional Manager of Community Programs at the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP), also supported us to explore the topic providing an overview of what they are doing at a state and local level to address unconscious biases towards women in fire and emergency management leadership positions.

It was another great session and we thank all those that attended and contributed to making it so beneficial to all our work. Information on all Community of Practice sessions can be found on our website.*|END:IF|*

Maree Crabbe, a leading Australian community educator and consultant, delivered an invaluable and highly informative workshop to help regional communities understand and address the damaging influence pornography has on young people.

With over 100 attendees, the sessions included a great network of educators, youth workers, health providers and police. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and people have already planned follow up sessions and ordered resources to continue this important conversation. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* Read More *|END:IF|*

*|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*Maree Crabbe’s work highlights the alarming level of violence and aggression towards women in pornography which is in turn linked to an increased tolerance of violence against women, be it sexual, physical or emotional. Maree’s work speaks directly to the issues we are addressing through the Grampians Communities of Respect and Equality (CoRE) Plan which aims to build a safe, equal and respectful society for everyone in our region.

We would like to thank our regional partners for making it possible have Maree present in Dimboola, Ararat as well as Ballarat. They included Relationships Australia Victoria, Grampians Pyrenees and Wimmera PCP's, Central Grampians and Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN, Barwon CASA and Dimboola Memorial Secondary College.*|END:IF|*  

Victorian Women's Benevolent Trust: we are pleased to announce WHG have recently been awarded a grant  to conduct research  into the experience of GPs referring and providing abortion services across our region. Through this research we hope to unpack the complexity and local context *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* See More SRH Research *|END:IF|**|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*that directly impacts on women’s capacity for self-determination and access to services that are readily available to their metropolitan counterparts.

Deakin University: we would also like to encourage representation from the Grampians region to be involved in a research project. The aim of this study is to develop a nurse-led collaborative model of care for the provision of medication abortion in regional and rural Victoria. The research team are calling on experts and advocates for women's sexual and reproductive health to participate in a questionnaire. Read more *|END:IF|*

*|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*2016 Australasian Sexual Health Conference (14–16 November, Adelaide) this year’s theme Re-thinking Sexual Health will provide a stimulating environment in which to share ideas on any aspect of sexual health. Anticipate cutting-edge research, innovative education ideas, and lively debate!
This conference is also held back-to-back with the 2016 Australasian HIV & AIDS Conference (16–18 November, Adelaide).*|END:IF|*

Did you know Setember 28 was a Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion? We highly recommend viewing a series of videos “Step into Our Stories, Step Into our Shoes”, where young people were invited to read letters from women who have had abortions. The aim was to create empathy and challenge socially constructed ideas of what “type” of person would have an abortion. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* See More SRH Resources *|END:IF|*

*|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|*Positive Women Victoria provides support, information and advocacy for women in Victoria living with HIV. PWV have recently updated their Services Directory page and are looking for feedback on any commonly used referral options. You can also become a member to receive regular newsletter updates.

National Education Toolkit for Female Genital Multilation/Cutting Awareness: This project has brought partners together from each state and territory to share their best practice recommendations, support and resources related to working with communities around the issue of FGM/C in Australia.

WHO launches new treatment guidelines: Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis are major public health problems worldwide. The new WHO guidelines reinforce the need to treat these STIs with the right antibiotic, at the right dose, and the right time to reduce their spread and improve sexual and reproductive health.*|END:IF|*

One of the Grampians CoRE Alliance members, Federation University, will be hosting a champion for gender equality and diversity David Morrison at a free event in Ballarat at 6pm Monday 10 October 2016 at the Mt Helen Campus. David Morrison will be a guest of the Albert Coates Memorial Trust at a public dinner at 7.30pm. The cost is $50 per head. Read more

Victorian Government is seeking feedback on where Changing Places facilities are needed most. Changing Places are accessible toilets with extra features and additional space to meet the needs of people with a disability and their carers. Please spread the word and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to participate in this survey *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* Read More *|END:IF|*

*|IF:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* The survey will close 5pm Monday 10 October 2016.

Providing accessible public toilets with better facilities enables people with disabilities to participate more fully in social recreational and community activities. Further information about the survey can be found at www.changingplaces.org.au *|END:IF|*