Easy Read - risk assessment

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Doing a risk assessment

What we need to know

A text-only Easy Read version

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You can download a PDF of this Easy Read Risk Assessment here.

This risk assessment should always be developed with a support worker, counsellor, or other professional who works with the woman with disabilities.

How to use this guide

Women With DisabilityAustralia (WWDA) wrote this guide.

When you see the word ‘we’, it means WWDA.

We wrote this information in an easy to read way.

We wrote some important words in bold.

This means the letters are thicker and darker.

We explain what these bold words mean.

There is a list of these words at the bottom of this page

In this guide we talk about things that might upset some people.

If the person you are speaking to gets upset, you can help them contact a support service.

You can find the contact details for support services here (internal link).

You can use these services too.

About this risk assessment

Clients are people who use a service.

A risk assessment is how we work out how to keep clients safe.

This risk assessment is about a client who might be at risk of domestic and family violence.

Domestic and family violence is when someone close to you:

hurts you
scares you
controls you.

This could be:

your boyfriend or girlfriend
your husband or wife
a member of your family
someone who takes care of you
someone you live with.

Domestic and family violence is never ok.

This risk assessment can help you talk to a client about their experiences with domestic and family violence.

We call someone who uses domestic and family violence an ‘abuser’.

This risk assessment has a list of statements about what your client might have experienced.

You can tick the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ box when your client talks about what they have experienced.

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Risks to think about

Violence

Violence is when someone:

hurts you
scares you
controls you.

Your client

experiences violence now
has experienced violence recently.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has used violence against people who are not part of their family before.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has choked someone before.

☐Yes

☐No

Sexual violence or abuse is when someone:

makes you do sexual things you don’t want to do
does something sexual to you that you don’t want them to do.

Your client’s abuser has used sexual violence or abuse against your client.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has ever threatened to end their own life.

Or they have ever tried to end their own life.

☐Yes

☐No

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Threats of violence

Your client’s abuser talks about:

hurting someone
ending someone’s life.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has threatened to end someone’s life.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client is afraid for:

their life
the lives of their children.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has ever threatened to:

hurt a child
end a child’s life
take a child.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has threatened to:

hurt people your client cares about
end the lives of people your client cares about.

For example, their family or friends.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has threatened to:

hurt an animal
end the life of an animal.

For example, a pet or support animal.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has threatened to do something dangerous.

For example, they might have said they will:

use a weapon
burn a house down.

☐Yes

☐No

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About your client’s abuser

Your mental health is about how you:

think and feel about yourself
deal with things in your life
manage your feelings.

Your client’s abuser has mental health issues that can affect how they behave.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser uses lots of drugs or alcohol.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser:

· can be jealous

· treats your client like they own them.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client’s abuser has stalked or followed:

your client
someone else.

☐Yes

☐No

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The courts recently told your client’s abuser they cannot:

live with their children
see their children.

☐Yes

☐No

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A court order is when a judge tells you what you must:

do
not do.

Your client’s abuser has ever broken a court order.

☐Yes

☐No

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About your client

Your client:

is pregnant
has had a baby in the last 12 months.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client has gone to hospital because of domestic and family violence before.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client:

has a disability, or
needs support to move.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client has just broken up with their abuser.

Or the client’s abuser knows that they plan to break up with them.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client cannot control when their abuser is around.

☐Yes

☐No

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Your client is not able to stop people coming inside their home.

☐Yes

☐No

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Help and support

If your client said yes to any of these questions, you can support them to write a safety plan.

You can learn more about writing a safety plan here (internal link).

You can learn more about domestic and family violence here (internal link).

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Word list

This list explains what the bold words in this document mean.

Client

Clients are people who use a service.

Court order

A court order is when a judge tells you what you must:

do
not do.

Domestic and family violence

Domestic and family violence is when someone close to you:

hurts you
scares you
controls you.

Mental health

Your mental health is about how you:

think and feel about yourself
deal with things in your life
manage your feelings.

Risk assessment

A risk assessment is how we work out how to keep clients safe.

Sexual violence or abuse

Sexual violence or abuse is when someone:

makes you do sexual things you don’t want to do
does something sexual to you that you don’t want them to do.

Professional development hub

The professional development hub offers several courses for people who support or work with women, girls, feminine identifying and non-binary people with disabilities. Covering topics such as strength-based case management, domestic and family violence, trauma-informed advocacy, and more! Each course has been co-designed with women with disabilities. Sign up or log in to access the Professional development hub.

Find out more