My Mediation Options – A Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Perspective Project
Catalyst Foundation (formally the Seniors Information Service SA) received funding from Multicultural SA for a project which aimed to raise awareness of the types and prevalence of elder abuse and of preventative services for CALD seniors who are at risk of or who are experiencing domestic violence or elder abuse. The project also aimed to increase the capacity and confidence of service providers and ‘community champions’ to prevent and respond more effectively to abuse towards CALD seniors. The primary focus of the Project was to raise awareness of the types and prevalence of elder abuse and of preventative services for CALD seniors who are at risk of or experiencing domestic violence or elder abuse. One goal was to increase awareness and the capacity and confidence of service providers and community groups, to help prevent and respond more effectively to domestic violence and abuse towards CALD seniors. The project also sought to improve engagement between organisations and will continue to support communities to utilise practical solutions for dealing with issues of abuse and violence against CALD seniors. We conducted community surveys and trained identified community champions by offering three three-hour sessions on ‘Ageing in a Foreign Land’, ‘Elder Abuse’ and ‘Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Advocacy’ conducted by Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw. The two focus areas were the Adelaide metropolitan region and the Whyalla region.
The Catalyst Foundation ‘My Mediation Options’ Steering Committee was chaired by Ms Jenny Hughes, Chief Executive, Catalyst Foundation and Mr Sasha Drogovelic, Team Leader, and was made up of representatives from the University of South Australia (Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw), Relationships Australia SA (Ms Virginia Leeuwenbuerg) , Office of the Public Advocate (Ms Elly Nitschke), Multicultural Communities Council of SA (Ms Helena Kyriazopoulos), Multicultural Aged Care (Ms Vicki Kanakaris), South Australian Police (Dr Juma Abuyi) and Aged Rights Advocacy Service (Ms Doris)
