WestCASA Board Statement on the Voice
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WestCASA is a community based not-for-profit sexual assault counselling service operating in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne.
WestCASA provides a 24 hour crisis care service in conjunction with the Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis Line (SACL).
WestCASA aims to both facilitate the recovery and healing of victim/survivors of sexual assault and work toward the elimination of sexual violence in society. The service vision is for a world where everyone lives free from the fear of sexual violence.
• Free counselling service for people who have experienced sexual abuse and live, study or work in the western suburbs of Melbourne
• Therapeutic Group Programs to assist recovery
• Information, support and counselling to non-offending family members, partners and friends of individuals who have been sexually abused
• Innovative Body Based Therapy Programs – Trauma Informed Shiatsu and Trauma Sensitive Yoga
• Specialist trauma service for women in prison at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
• Community education programs
WestCASA is based at the Multidisciplinary Centre (MDC) in Werribee
The Wyndham Multidisciplinary Centre (MDC) brings together specialist sexual assault and family violence services under one roof in Melbourne’s fast growing western suburbs.
The MDC features counselling and advocacy support services, general health checks, therapeutic support, forensic medical services, as well as guidance through the justice system.
WestCASA values your feedback.
Please email us at feedback@westcasa.org.au and a member of our team will be in contact with you.
Women’s Health Hub
Level 2, 236 Hoppers Lane
Werribee. Victoria 3030
Intake Hours: 9.30am – 4.30pm,
Monday-Friday
Counselling Line: 9216 0444
Administration Line: 9216 0411
WestCASA Clues brochure – newly updated!
“Clues that tell you a man might be an abusive partner”
The CLUES brochure is a practical resource for women who date men and have experienced abuse by the men in their lives.
“How will I know if he is going to be abusive or not?”
Written by counsellors who have worked with and assisted thousands of women who have experienced abuse by men.
The CLUES brochure provides tips on what behaviours and attitudes to look for, that might warn you that a man might be controlling or abusive.
It has an easy to use tick box format.
> Download the Clues brochure here (pdf)
(also available in hard copy format by request)
Body-Based Therapies Program Evaluation
New! BBT Program Evaluation
by Tara Schintler, Georgia Taylor and Juliet Watson
This research report outlines the establishment and integration of the 10-year body-based program to complement current psychotherapeutic interventions, within a specialist sexual assault service.
The foundational principle of body-based therapy (BBT) at WestCASA is that it is practice that is trauma-informed. Practitioners, therefore, are sensitive to how experiences of trauma contribute to current difficulties, and how this might affect engaging in a therapeutic alliance (Knight, 2015). The program included yoga and shiatsu.
The evaluation was conducted using a qualitative approach that comprised a literature review, pre-and post-program questionnaires with victim/survivors, and focus groups and interviews with shiatsu and yoga practitioners and counsellor/advocates.