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Ideas for events and activities
Here are some ideas to start you thinking about activities or events for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month (DFVPM).
- Approach local sporting clubs to be part of DFVPM activities. This could involve displaying DFVPM posters or organising a sporting activity to promote DFVPM. These clubs might also assist in sponsorship of an event or activity.
- Organise a 'fun run'. The proceeds could be used to fund other DFVPM activities, as well as ongoing prevention activities.
- Host a breakfast, morning tea, lunch or community picnic. You could organise a guest speaker to talk about prevention of domestic and family violence.
- Organise a forum for parents and provide information about talking to children about alternatives to violence.
- Ask an Aboriginal Elder from your community to address a forum or to make a public statement about domestic and family violence.
- Arrange for DFVPM messages to be displayed on billboards around your community or on banners across main streets and bridges.
- Hold a sausage sizzle at your local hardware or shopping centre and invite a local identity or sportsperson to cook. Display a DFVPM poster or banner and other domestic and family violence information resources.
- Contact your local newspaper and suggest they conduct a survey about domestic and family violence. A number of survey topics could be covered, including 'Have you ever felt verbally, physically or emotionally threatened by your partner?' A report could be published in the newspaper during DFVPM, along with information about where to go for help.
- Approach local shopkeepers to display DFVPM posters in their windows.
- Organise a 'fathers and sons day' with activities that promote non-violence.
- Approach a local identity, such as the Mayor or a local sportsperson, to make a media statement about preventing domestic and family violence.
- Approach your local radio station to support domestic and family violence prevention during the month by playing anti-violence songs – for example, 'How Come, How Long' by Stevie Wonder and Baby Face, 'Two Beds and a Coffee Machine' by Savage Garden and ‘Better Man’ by Pearl Jam. There is a website that lists songs related to domestic and family violence – go to www.creativefolk.com. The radio station may also hold a talk-back discussion on domestic and family violence and how to get help.
- Arrange for a story about domestic and family violence to be published in your local newspaper and newsletters.
- Organise mobile information sessions on domestic and family violence and take your message to places in your community where people gather.
- Involve people in producing a special edition of your regular newsletter on DFVPM.
- Make a wooden totem pole and have people decorate it with messages that promote healthy relationships.
- Organise a training day for church leaders on domestic and family violence prevention, using available resources.
These are just a few examples of how a community can work together on a project that promotes messages of non-violence.
