Birlinka

Birlinka
Men's Behaviour Change - Domestic and Family Violence

An exploration of self, identity, cultural
and learned behaviour for a
different way of being.

" I never heard anyone tell me before that I wasn't the problem, that the problems is the problem and that I am me. That picture we did really helped me think about things different"
Birlinka client

Birlinka
(delivered weekly, across two - sixteen to twenty weeks programmes)

An Indigenous Australian initiative currently being delivered in partnership with an international development agency to engage Aboriginal men among four regional and remotes communities to reduce and then stop - domestic and family violence among participants.

Natjul's Birlinka programme has a three-pronged approach to working with men around change behaviour and domestic violence that include:

regular participation in group
individual support, and
coordinated outside influence.

A couple of hundred hours working among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and community have informed our method and practice for engagement around some of the difficult things to talk about.

For example, when it comes to domestic and family violence our understanding and method for engagement is informed by the knowledge that domestic violence does not stand alone in a community. It is influenced and upheld by multiple factors of individual, social - collective, historical contexts that work together to create the conditions where such a destructive practice is introduced and sustained.

Our engagement method is an acknowledgement of that history and circumstance.
Our engagement method although acknowledging that history and circumstance, does not however, lead us to step away from working with people (men more particularly) around individual choices and self-accountability in the change behaviour - domestic violence space.

Thodules:

At Natjul, while we have previously worked with, appreciate and acknowledge there is a place for delivering the more structured linear modules required to pass on knowledge, experience and learning, we have also however, learned from working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the spaces we engage that learning presented as a set of linear time limited modules can narrow buy-in around domestic and family violence and anti-social behaviours.

As a result, over time, we have shifted much of our deliveries toward what we consider a more appropriate approach in engagement method we refer to as 'thodules'. Ie, 'Birlinka is a thoduled engagement method for working with Indigenous men and communities around behaviour change'.

A shift from an exclusively linear 'moduled' delivery toward a more inclusive, engaging, culturally appropriate thematic practice of 'thodules' (the fusion between the practice and process of delivering modules, and the practice of delivering themed based process) has invited broader discussion across community and in many ways raised or centred the idea that change is possible.

In our experience the thoduled approach to engagement has invited broader discussion not only among the men we engage, but also across the services and community we work with.

Thodules provide core, at times non-negotiable topics we must talk about, yet enable other related discussions to be introduced and explored, such as the place and influence of culture, community contexts, extended family relationships, intergenerational experience and trauma and so on.

Final note, although we engage using thodules, invite discussion, and are interested in context, we remain vigilant to be aware and challenge participating men's invitations around collusion.