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Ballarat Men's Initiative, Jesse Park

On Wed 12th Aug ’26, Jesse Park as the Men’s Engagement Advisor for Respect Ballarat at Women’s Health Grampians, presented the Ballarat Men's Initiative to lead local community action and conversations to prevent gender-based violence. The Ballarat Men's Initiative focuses on personal growth, connection and building character among men.

Jesse who has only been in the role for approx. 12 months, is leading initiatives for the prevention of violence against women and gender diverse people. Women’s Health Grampians are a key CoRE (Communities of Respect and Equality) member, along with our Rotary club and 157 other members.

Jesse informed us of the concerning situation family violence causes in Ballarat, where it’s occurrence in Ballarat is 51% higher that the state average, resulting in the majority of police call outs in Ballarat.

SHE MATTERS MURAL

The Ballarat community joined forces in March 2024 to create a tribute to more than 200 women lost to violence, installing the She Matters Mural on the wall of CAFS (Child & Family Services) Ballarat.

Domestic Violence is leading cause of homelessness, with ~46 people sleeping rough in CBD alone. Stress & Pressure from family violence is the highest cause of mental health, alcohol and drug use. Women are 2.5% more likely to be victims than men, with 1 in 4 women experience some form of violence in their life, for men it’s 1 in 14. Unfortunately, a women suffers serious violence every 4 days in Ballarat.

What is Women’s Health Grampians / Jesse doing about it?

Jesse is creating a Ballarat Men’s Engagement Advisory Group, to promote community action, getting men involved to be the driving force to change and improve the situation. He has recruited men to become involved, to provide insight and lived experience, review resources & training material and support delivering the project to the community. A key outcome has already been to ‘call it as it is’ - “Violence against Women”.

Jess has also launched “Starting the Conversation” .. Looking for groups of men to take part with exploring how men engage with preventing violence against women.

Also in late November is the 16 Days of Activism (Against Gender based Violence) – 25th Nov to 10th Dec ’26, where there will be another march this year, as well as the chalking event at Alfred Deakin Place.

Flyers of the initiatives Jesse is driving ...