Gaynor's story

My job is high risk.

But I know that despite the risks, I need to continue the fight against the appalling rates of family violence in our so-called “lucky” country.

I'm a front-line worker in the fight, heading up a Salvation Army refuge for women and children who are homeless due to domestic violence and other issues. At any given time, these women may be suicidal, and as a worker you have got to be able to recognise that. Or they might even want to harm their kids.

You’re dealing with mental health issues, and you’re also dealing with past histories or even current histories of drug and alcohol abuse. The women live communally – but not everybody agrees. When mums want to punch on, you’ve got to go into the middle of that. So there are risks. But I love my job.

I would love to see no victims, everybody living a beautiful life and everybody living happily ever after, but unfortunately that’s only a dream. My strength comes from the fact that I want to make a difference to other women who may be experiencing domestic violence. If I can make a change to one person, then that’s one less person that’s not having to go through this … or maybe one less statistic.