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Healing Together: A Survivor-Led Recovery Fund for Refugee and Migrant Women

Proposal Summary

Victoria should establish a Survivor Recovery & Healing Fund to deliver community-led, trauma-informed, culturally safe supports for refugee, migrant and disabled women after sexual violence.

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Many refugee, migrant and disabled women in Victoria experience sexual violence yet face extra barriers to recovery. These include fear of disbelief and blame, especially when violence occurs within marriage or family, language and cultural gaps that distort or silence disclosures, visa-linked coercive control that makes seeking help feel dangerous, and services that are inaccessible, culturally unsafe or not trauma-informed. Together, these barriers keep survivors silent, disconnected from care, and unwell.

A Survivor Recovery & Healing Fund would change this by investing in community-led, trauma-informed and culturally safe supports that meet women where they are. Funded activities would include:

• Bicultural practitioners and trauma-trained interpreters providing in-language, confidential support.

• Disability-inclusive and gender-affirming care, including accessible venues, communication supports (Auslan/captioning), and options for support people.

• Flexible brokerage so survivors can choose healing that fits their culture and faith, counselling, art and body-based therapies, nature-based or peer circles.

• Outreach and warm referrals through trusted community hubs, health services and faith settings, with transport and childcare assistance where needed.

• Integrated partnerships with legal, migration and housing supports to reduce structural vulnerability that undermines recovery.

This turns mistrust and access barriers, language, visa precarity, and disability exclusion into trusted pathways to healing, improving wellbeing, safety and participation while lowering long-term health costs.

Evidence from the REACH Project (UniMelb, SASVic & WDV, 2024) shows that flexible, creative and culturally responsive healing improves survivor wellbeing and reduces long-term service costs. Additional Victorian and national research documents the chilling effects of disbelief, language barriers and migration precarity on help-seeking, as well as higher violence rates and access gaps for women with disabilities. Recognising recovery as public health will rebuild trust, strengthen families and communities, and align Victoria’s investment with its commitments under the Gender Equality Act and the Public Health and Wellbeing Plan.

Accountability and outcomes. The Fund would track what matters to survivors: reduced distress, improved daily functioning and connection, safe service access in the first language, increased feelings of being believed, and sustained safety over time. Disaggregated evaluation (culture/language, visa status, disability, region) will ensure equity and continuous improvement across Victoria.