Meet our Resident Organisations: Women and Mentoring

Tell us about what your organisation does?

WAM is a community organisation providing critical support to vulnerable women involved in the criminal justice system by matching them one-on-one with a mentor.  The volunteer mentors help these women to get their lives back on track, reduce recidivism and address the issues behind their offending.  The mentoring relationship can:

• Support women to develop and implement life skills and build protective factors to reduce offending and the cycle of re-offending,

• Promote more effective engagement with services in the community to address the root causes of women’s offending and to improve life outcomes, and

• Empower vulnerable women to create positive change in their life.

WAM team photo-December 2020 L to R: Tricia Ciampa, Joyce Sedunary, Mary Latham, Phaedra Thain, Sarah Nyssen

How do your organisation’s values align with a Women’s Centre & what do you enjoy about working within QVWC?

Our work is all about supporting women and our values are Integrity, Respect, Belonging, Empowerment and Social Justice.

Since moving into the building in November 2021, we’ve been enjoying:

• Being surrounded by like-minded organisations

• The beautiful building

• The spaces for hire

• The convenient city location

• Having somewhere that our program participants feel comfortable coming to

• The QVWC Shop

• The exhibitions on the ground floor

What are your priorities over the next 12 months?

We want to expand our program to more Magistrates’ Courts across Victoria, including regional areas, so that we can support more women in need.  To achieve this, we need to secure more funding.  And we will continue to advocate for changes to the justice system.

What do you see as the biggest issue facing women, non-binary & gender diverse people right now?

The lack of appropriate, gender-specific support services.

Interview: Natalie Forde