Penny Szakiel's Colleagues at Barwon CASA
Penny Szakiel's Contact Details
South Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Barwon CASA
Penny Szakiel's Company Details
The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre is a community based, not-for-profit service, offering free, confidential trauma-informed sexual assault and family violence services across the Barwon, Wimmera and Western Melbourne areas of Victoria. Operating for over 40 years in the Barwon area and in the Wimmera district since 2014, we are a trusted specialist organisation supporting our communities in need, offering 24-hour crisis care and support for anyone who has experienced a recent sexual assault or women, children and young people experiencing family violence. As one of the largest standalone specialist sexual assault and family violence organisations, with more than 110 employees, we provide free and confidential case management support to women, children and young people experiencing family violence. We also provide free and confidential trauma-informed counselling and a range of therapeutic group programs to address the impacts of trauma from sexual assault and family violence. We offer professional training and our Primary Prevention team designs and delivers innovative projects which are informed by and contribute to the evidence base about what works to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. We are a proud partner in the Barwon Multidisciplinary Centre (MDC) and a key partner in The Orange Door Barwon, providing support to women, children and young people experiencing family violence. Advocating on behalf of our clients, we are committed to informing and influencing policy, legislation and community attitudes. We actively lead and participate in research, service evaluation and quality assurance processes to strengthen our specialist service response. Working respectfully and collaboratively with our partners, we maintain an awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault and family violence within the community and the importance of gender equality, while highlighting the support services available.