Comprehensive Support and Reflective Practice Model for AHS
The Comprehensive Support and Reflective Practice Model is for Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) workers and the Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support Service to support people who are experiencing, or at risk, of family and/or sexual violence.
Service Agreement between the PCFSV Support Service and Aboriginal Health Services (AHS)
The Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support Service partners with Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) workers to provide reflective practice, shared resources and collaborative approaches to supporting people experiencing, or at risk of, family and sexual violence (FSV).
A Template to create a Service Agreement between the PCFSV Support Service and Aboriginal Health Services (AHS) is available below.
Consent to share information Form
The Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support Service partners with Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) workers to provide reflective practice, shared resources and collaborative approaches to supporting people experiencing, or at risk of, family and sexual violence (FSV).
The personal details of the person being supported should be de-identified unless consent has been given and a signed Consent to Share Information Form has been shared with the PCFSV Support Specialist. The form is available below.
Comprehensive support Template
The Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support Service partners with Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) workers to provide reflective practice, shared resources and collaborative approaches to supporting people experiencing, or at risk of, family and sexual violence (FSV).
An AHS worker may wish to use the Comprehensive support Template to assist the collaborative work centred around the safety of the person being supported and their children. The Template is available below.
Media Release - Coercion and control that limits reproductive autonomy in the spotlight
MEDIA RELEASE
22 September 2025
COERCION AND CONTROL THAT LIMITS REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
On World Contraception Day on 26 September 2025 Engender Equality wants to raise awareness of reproductive coercion, a behaviour that interferes with a person’s reproductive autonomy and is both a form of interpersonal abuse and sexual violence.
Engender Equality CEO, Alina Thomas said,
“These behaviours are usually perpetrated against women by male partners and almost always manifest within a broader pattern of controlling behaviours known as ‘coercive control’.
“Reproductive coercion can be hard to identify because it occurs privately, in a climate of controlling relationships, and involves significant feelings of shame for the victim.
“Traditional gender roles also reinforce men’s propriety over women, remembering that rape within marriage was legal in Australia until the late 1970s.
“Governmental policies and systems that influence or restrict reproductive choices, including those which limit access to termination, create a climate where reproductive coercion can flourish.
“Laws and regulations that interfere with an individual’s reproductive health decision-making cause psychological distress and create real barriers to a victim seeking help.
“Our Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence (PCFSV) Support Service is working with general practitioners throughout Tasmania to support their work with victim-survivors.
“We ask that they treat reproductive coercion with the same gravity and sensitivity you would other forms of intimate partner, sexual or family violence,” Ms Thomas said.
Reproductive coercion can include forcing or pressuring someone to become pregnant or to terminate a pregnancy or preventing someone from accessing contraception. Doing things to stop contraception from working such as ‘stealthing’, the act of removing a condom during sex, or forcing or pressuring someone to undergo sterilisation are also prevalent. Some perpetrators prevent their partners from accessing reproductive healthcare, including screening tests for sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer (pap smears).
Reproductive nurse, working in primary care, Teagan Atkins, explains;
“If a patient appears intimidated by or afraid of their partner, the patient’s partner speaks for the patient, makes decisions on their behalf or is otherwise controlling, this would be a red flag.
“The patient’s partner may insist on attending routine medical appointments, including consultations on contraception and reproductive health to exert control.
“A patient appearing isolated from other family members and friends or who seems reluctant or regretful about their reproductive health choices, including past pregnancies or terminations may also indicate reproductive coercion,” Ms Atkins said.
Additional Information
This Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence Support Service is funded by Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN), through the Australian Government’s Primary Health Networks Program. Engender Equality is a not-for-profit agency leading the program in partnership with Laurel House.
More information can be obtained at https://engenderequality.org.au. More information including how General Practices and Aboriginal Health Services can connect with the service is available at 03 6268 1663, admin@pcfsv.org.au or www.engenderequality.org.au/pcfsv.
If you would like to engage a lived experience representative (case study), please see Advocates for Change – Engender Equality, email advocates@engenderequality.org.au or 0415 740 524.
Ends.
Media Contact: Alina Thomas 0438 788 291
Reproductive coercion - General Practice resource
Reproductive coercion is both a form of interpersonal abuse and a form of sexual violence. It is usually perpetrated against women by male partners and almost always manifests within a broader pattern of controlling behaviours known as ‘coercive control’.
Statement for Tasmanian Family and Sexual Violence Specialist Practitioners - Circulation of discredited 'parental alienation' theories
There are ongoing reports of the discredited theory of ‘Parental Alienation’ (‘PA’) (also referred to as ‘Parental Alienation Behaviours’ or ‘Parental Alienation Syndrome’) being promoted online within certain practices and institutions. PA is widely criticised in Australia and overseas for its methodological weakness, lack of empirical foundation and weaponisation by people who use violence.
Practitioners are encouraged to monitor and counter the promotion of PA using the information provided in the Statement below and request further information from Engender Equality if required.
Engender Equality Strategic Plan 2024-2027
Welcome to Engender Equality’s Strategic Plan 2024-2027 including our key priorities for 2024-2026
Paper Trail - A poem
Paper Trail
She is nothing,
but she has a point of view.
She is young,
but she rummages through
the tissues in her bra,
she’s no star.
She has no pockets
for ritzy spent dockets;
she is just nothing,
but she has a point of view.
He’s not the right image,
for you, true blue.
You’re tiptoeing around
with only one shoe.
He’s not the right image
for us too.
The female beast
is the one inside you.
Censoring self,
isn’t your due.
There’s blue paint
on the ceiling,
as a short-film mart.
Plastered on the wall
peeling off your heart,
is just the start.
The hostage burns slow
when the light gets too low.
Self-sabotage protects the other,
self-delete inserts another.
Anon.
Support for General Practices to support victim-survivors - Engender Equality Update - September 2025
Supporting general practices and Aboriginal health services in responding to family violence, sexual violence and child sexual abuse through the PCFSV Pilot program.