Young mother shares her experience of The Orange Door

A young mother from Morwell who experienced family violence has described how The Orange Door ‘gave her a sense of hope’ by helping her access the support she needed.

Published:
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 at 11:00 pm

Anokhi* bravely shared her story when the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Gabrielle Williams visited The Orange Door in Inner Gippsland this month.

Anokhi also recently spoke to ABC Radio Gippsland about her experience of family violence, saying: “If you have any issues, whatever they are you can straight away knock on the Orange Door."

She is one of 60,000 people who have been referred to The Orange Door across Victoria since operations began, including more than 20,000 children.

While the majority of clients continue to be referred by other organisations, early data shows a new trend is starting to emerge in the way people are accessing services. This case data shows that the number of people self-referring to The Orange Door in person is increasing in each of the five Orange Door areas.

The Orange Door has been developed alongside people with lived experience and is working to continue to ensure their wants and needs drive improvement efforts. A new ‘client voice’ survey has recently been introduced after being developed and trialled with clients.

The survey, which is currently available to clients in The Orange Door and will soon be offered over the phone, provides a way to measure key aspects of their experience. Survey results are included in regular reporting for The Orange Door, so that their voices can influence ongoing practice and service improvement.

The Orange Door is currently open in North Eastern Melbourne, Bayside Peninsula, Barwon, Mallee and Inner Gippsland.

A site in Ballarat CBD has been secured for The Orange Door in Central Highlands and the first round of recruitment started this month with three Practice Leader roles advertised on seek.com.au.

The Orange Door in Inner Gippsland is based at 163 Princes Drive, Morwell. The service is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday or you can call on 1800 319 354.

Watch her interview with Nine News Gippsland

Read the Minister’s opinion piece to mark the first year of The Orange Door.

*not her real name

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