The Aunties, in partnership with Women’s Health Victoria, has officially launched a first-of-its-kind online training program to equip mentors with the skills to respond to disclosures of gender-based violence and discrimination.
In response to the Create Space Survey results, which revealed that one in four women in the industry reported being bullied, undermined, or harassed in some way at work over the last 12 months, The Aunties set out on a mission to change the narrative.
Feedback from The Aunties’ initial programs revealed that mentees felt most comfortable confiding in their mentor—sometimes more so than a manager, friend, or family member.
The Aunties found that there is no specific training program to equip mentors with the skills required to respond to these kinds of disclosures. Phoebe Sloane, founder of The Aunties, told B&T of a time when she had an occurrence disclosed to her, she didn’t have the skills to deal with the situation and how this led The Aunties to create and launch their own training program titled ‘Support Talk’, alongside the experts at Women’s Health Victoria.
“I had someone reach out to me who disclosed something that was horrible going on in their workplace at the time, and in that moment, I didn’t have the skills to respond to that situation. You have instincts, but for a lot of people, especially those receiving a disclosure for the very first time, it can be quite an overwhelming experience where you don’t know if you’re saying too much or too little or not the right thing or your instinct might be to try and help find solutions for this person when they may not need it,” she told B&T. It can be quite confronting and there’s a very high chance that you are one of the very first people to receive a current disclosure, so the person obviously feels comfortable and safe with you to disclose that information and what they’re experiencing. It’s really important to have those skills to go; these are the steps, and here’s also how I can look after myself, too”.
Working in partnership with Women’s Health Victoria, ‘Support Talk’ is an online video-based training program that provides tools and strategies to help mentors respond to disclosures about gender-based bullying, violence, discrimination, and sexual harassment in the advertising industry.
Thanks to this partnership, which Sloane describes as “serendipitous”, the training is free for the first three months and is open to anyone to complete.
During an industry call hosted by shEQUAL, Sloane expressed that The Aunties would be pausing its volunteer calls to train mentors. “We really want to train our Aunties in helping with these skills, and we really want them to develop the skill sets to respond to these kinds of situations. We’re not experts in the space; we need experts, help, and support,” Sloane explained.
Through this call, Sloane was introduced to Lauren Zappa, manager of gender equity and capacity building at Women’s Health Victoria. The pair have been working together on Support Talk for over two years now.
“The Aunties have identified a crucial skills gap—one that can feel overwhelming when disclosures of gender-based violence arise. We are confident that this new program is not only engaging and easy to understand, but it will empower mentors to respond to whatever may arise during their careers,” said Zappa.
The training also addresses scenarios that cover instances of family violence. “Sometimes work is a safe space for people to disclose what might be going on at home. With one Australian woman murdered every four days at the hands of an intimate partner, Support Talk also aims to provide strategies to respond and provide help because, ultimately, we don’t know what kind of disclosures might come our way,” Zappa explained.
“Domestic violence rates have been increasing for the last few months, particularly this year and the conversation around it, too. Work and home life aren’t mutually exclusive, so you’ve also got the tools to potentially help in those instances,” Sloane explained.
“This is a no-brainer. You just have to listen to the news or talk to women in our industry to know that gender-based violence and discrimination is rife in Australia and our workplaces. Mentors and managers will find themselves confronted by victims of this reality. And knowing how to respond in that moment is vital. Support Talk is how you become part of the solution,” explained Mandie Van Der Merwe, CCO Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and Chair, AWARD.
The training takes approximately 40-60 minutes to complete and features a range of short-hand content, quizzes, and a series of training videos teaching four simple steps to respond to a disclosure: listen, believe, validate, and refer. Created by Poppet Productions and directed by Lizzy Bailey, the videos feature familiar industry Aunties to teach important mini-lessons.
If you or someone you know needs help, help is available at 1800 RESPECT.
Credits
Women’s Health Victoria
Manager Gender Equity & Capacity Building, Lauren Zappa
Design & Communications Lead, Anne Johnston
Senior Training & Capacity Building Coordinator, Linette Johnson
Health Promotion and Communications Officer, Bethany Knight
Creative – The Aunties
Creative Lead – Phoebe Sloane
Creative – Amanda Chen
Creative – Sarah McGregor
Design Lead – Maddy Merzvinskis
Design Lead – Ika Jumali
Design – Rhodesia Saykao
Design – Madeline McDonald
PR Lead – Abigail Dawson
PR – Erin Dowling
PR – Elliott Holohan
Social Lead – Beatrix Fisher
Social – Angelina Lay
Social – Madelene McGuinness
Social – Sarah Gevaux
Operations – Sive Buckley
Photography – Darcy Scales
Production – Poppet
Director, Lizzy Bailey
Producer, Beth Malcher
Executive Producer, Nat Taylor,
Director of Photography, Amy Dellar
Art Director and wardrobe, Paige Anderson
AC / B Cam, Georgia Stewart
2nd AC / Digi Cam, Alessia Chapman
2nd Unit AD & PA, Chelsea Addison
Gaffer/Grip, Dan Carr
Lighting Assistant, Catie Carr
Sound Recordist, Lynne Butler
Runner & Standby Props, Jackson Sharpe
Props Painter, Stacy Jewell
Make-up Artist, Joyce Ying
Runner, Amalia Krueger
Runner, Anna King
Film Talent
Lauren Zappa, Women’s Health Vic
Anne Johnston
Nat Taylor
Nomfundo Msomi
Dhivia Pillai
Robyn Bergmann
Beatrix Fisher
Amanda Chen
Phoebe Sloane
Film – Post Production – Clemenger BBDO
Executive Producer, Karolina Bozajkovska
Offline & Online Editor, Jamie Williamson
Offline Editor & Grade, Jen Cahir
