Psychosocial counselling

This enables them to successfully address high-risk cases that would normally be dropped in the complex bureaucracy. They are the “glue between the police force, courts, health systems and women’s shelters”. 368

A 2019 study on the use and efficacy of FPOs in Lae found that the support of Femili PNG resulted in an increased likelihood of a survivor receiving an IPO.369 Provinces that don’t have a case management centre have a lower uptake in IPOs in comparison to places that do (such as Morobe and National Capital District, where Femili PNG functions). Furthermore, IPOs are most successfully converted into long-term protection orders when survivors receive coordinated case management. In NCD, Femili PNG provides case management and shelter services under the Bel Isi project, a public-private partnership with numerous businesses, and in coordination with FSVAC, UN Women, and the Australian Government’s Pacific Women programme.

Psychosocial counselling seeks to help survivors regain self-esteem and control of their life by empowering them to make informed decisions about the best way to address the trauma and consequences of violence.370 This is achieved through empathetic listening, informing survivors about their rights and various forms of support, and encouraging self-awareness to take steps to stop violence or reduce the potential for re-victimization. Psychosocial counsellors assist with risk assessment and making safety plans. They can also act as case managers to ensure survivors are accessing all the support they may need. Following a survivor-centred approach is crucial when providing psychosocial counselling so that survivors can regain power and decisionmaking in their lives. Unfortunately, the legal framework in some contexts does not always follow a survivor-centred approach.

A peculiarity of the Honduran domestic violence law, for example, is that judges can mandate counselling not only for the aggressor, but also for the survivor. The stated rationale is to “seek the recovery of the victim’s self-esteem and the reeducation of the aggressor”. Although judges are not required to refer women to the family counselling centres, data from the Public Prosecutor´s Office of Tegucigalpa for 2019 indicates that in 76 per cent of the cases where a sentence was passed, the judge mandated counselling for both the victim and the aggressor.371

In PNG, counselling support has become an important service provided by most service providers. Informants