The 2009 Men & Family Relationships (MFR) Forum will be held on the 8th and 9th of October 2009.

This will coincide with the National Men’s Health Conference (Tuesday – Friday 6^th to the 9^th October) and the National Aboriginal Men’s Health Conference at the University of Newcastle, NSW.

When: Thursday 8^th and Friday 9^th of October 2009

Where: The University of Newcastle, University Dr, Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia

Registration website: www.workingwithmen.org.au

Language, landscape, engagement and responses

Since the rapid expansion of the men and family relationship program eleven years ago, some approaches for working with men have flourished in different pockets of Australia. However, within some groups of men and different contexts, the work with men is still in its infancy as Community service providers are still grappling with how to engage and work effectively with men in our communities.

Men have different needs, motivations, ways of expressing themselves and different ways of processing and acting on information. For decades now, health professionals, academics, leaders in education and social justice have tailored support programs to specifically meet the unique needs of women, and rightfully so. All too often services are designed on basic assumptions with limited input from men themselves. When it comes to providing family and relationship services to men in Australia, the picture most often painted is of the sad broken men struggling to overcome heart-breaking and complex addiction problems, family violence, or criminal behaviour. Libraries are filled with stories of suffering and despair that is seen to be caused by men. 

Lessons over the last 11 years have affirmed that changing fathers and men is not simply about finding ways of equipping them with techniques to manage destructive behaviours and acquiring better parenting ‘skills’ in some limited technical sense. Significant change occurs in therapeutic and support work with the men often in tandem with their partners and children as it supports fathers and men to question the basis of their identity as men (see Ferguson and Hogan 2004).

This Forum explores the constantly changing context of men and their family relationships in Australia. It will recognise the significant achievements, identify examples of positive, strengths-based approaches to working with men, young men and children. It will also explore the current challenges and opportunities for relating with men, building relationships and partnerships for future sustainability.

The themes for the 2009 National Men and Family Relationships Forum are:

             i.     Partnerships in service delivery when working with men

           ii.     Multi-integrated approaches to service delivery

         iii.     Responses to family violence

          iv.     Working with men in crisis around family breakdown issues

            v.     Working with young men and young fathers

          vi.     Early intervention approaches- working with fathers and their children

        vii.     Working with men in the workplace and balancing relationship needs

      viii.     Responding to the changing context for working with men: e.g. Working with men and significant life changes, economic changes, homelessness, ‘fly-in-fly out’ workers, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and Indigenous communities

To submit an abstract and to register, visit http://www.workingwithmen.org.au/

  mens_health_gathering_newcastle_2009.pdf (416.83 KB)

More information about the Forum and the other events will be available soon. If you have any questions or wish to discuss this event, please contact Andrew King on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or phone on               0437 749 390       .

Regional and State based MFR Networks

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