Our Survivor Advisory Group and LGBTQIA+ Advisory Group play a central role in ensuring lived experience informs our planning, service design, and advocacy. Their insights strengthen GenWest’s commitment to safety, inclusion, and responsiveness to the needs of the communities and clients we serve. We are deeply grateful to the members for generously sharing their experiences and expertise.
“Survivor voice is incredibly precise. We know where systems fail because we’ve lived it. When supported to speak, we don’t just raise awareness, we raise standards.”
Survivor Advisory Group Member
The Survivor Advisory Group's Impact
GenWest's Survivor Advisory Group has provided advice on strategic decisions and initiatives to improve our services and took part in a range of advocacy activities. Last year, the Survivor Advisory Group:
- Consulted on our health and wellbeing and prevention of violence programs and Advocacy Strategy.
- Helped shape our approach to how we use survivor stories responsibly and ethically when working with funders, partners, and other organisations
- Provided feedback on the Clinical Practice Framework and Client Closure Survey.
- Provided feedback on policy submissions and papers, including the review of the Victims’ Charter Act and VCOSS’s Insights Paper, Hidden Hurdles: Barriers to rental fairness for family violence victim survivors and ways to dismantle them.
- Some members also contributed to external advocacy by sharing their stories at events including GenWest’s 2024 AGM, the Women’s Health Services Network Conference, the opening of our new Children’s Counselling Hub and at an International Women’s Day Event hosted by The Orange Door. One member spoke on local radio about family violence and housing insecurity and a few members have shares their stories in our 2023-24 and 2024- 25 Annual Reports.
“The Group has helped me with my own recovery from grief and trauma as a result of family violence. It’s given me a sense of purpose and allowed me to hold my head up high in the community.”
Survivor Advisory Group Member
Partner with a Survivor Advocate for your event or project
GenWest's Survivor Advisory Group offer their lived experience and expertise not only to GenWest but external organisations and groups as well.
The breadth of their knowledge strengthens survivor-led evidence and advocacy across the family violence prevention and response sector. Click here to hear about some of their recent advocacy activities.
Survivor Advocate stories of healing and recovery
Members of GenWest’s Survivor Advisory Group generously shared their stories, with the hope of supporting other victim survivors and improving service response.
Read their experiences of healing and recovery in our 2023-24 Annual Report. Download the 2023-24 GenWest Annual Report.
Survivor advisory group reflections
Three members of the Survivor Advocacy Group have shared their reflections on being lived-experience advocates and part of GenWest’s Survivor Advocacy Group.
"GenWest didn’t just invite us to the table—they made sure our voices shaped the agenda."
Read member reflections on being part of the Survivor Advisory Group here.
