We love a passionate woman who is local and driven and and has a great initiative to share and as such we really enjoyed the wonderful and thought provoking presentation from the Founder and Director of Raven Collective, Natalie Illingworth.

This Social Enterprise Start-up's mission is to provide a safe and scaffolded environment for women who have experienced domestic abuse to develop relevant skills that allow participants to seek and sustain ongoing employment and reach the ultimate goal of becoming self-sufficient.

Domestic and family violence statistics*:

* On average, 1 woman a week in Australia is killed by her intimate partner.

* Most victims/survivors of intimate partner violence are women.

* Approximately 1 in 5 Australian women (18% or 1.7 million) has experienced sexual violence.

* Partner violence often occurs when women are pregnant.

* Intimate partner violence is the greatest health risk factor (greater than smoking, alcohol and obesity) for women in their reproductive years.

* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience high rates of violence with significant health impacts. An estimated 3 in 5 indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15.

* Over one-third of women with disabilities experience some form of intimate partner violence.

* Children often see or hear violence between their parents. Family violence is a factor in many child protection cases

You can help Raven Collective by purchasing one of their beautiful gift boxes full of products from local suppliers.

You can also donate or volunteer, for more details please visit https://www.ravencollective.org

*statistics were accurate at time of publication.