Manager: Support survivors of family violence

BANK South Pacific group general manager retail Paul Thornton says the challenge in family and sexual violence has always been about what to do to help the survivor.
“The sadness of seeing a colleague, a human being, suffering as a result of violence, is not nice and I think most people when seeing the aftermath of family and sexual violence (FSV) show genuine sympathy and compassion towards the survivor,” he said.
“The challenge has always been what you do to help the survivor.”
Thornton was sharing his thoughts and experiences in supporting staff faced with FSV and how awareness had evolved over the years.
Thornton first saw cases of FSV when he started working in the country in the late 1970s.
In some instances, he observed that staff would be brave and came to work with black-eyes but in many cases, staff would be regularly absent from work as the result of FSV.
He was more aware of cases of physical violence because he could see the consequences of it.
However, emotional or financial trauma inflicted on staff were not as obvious. In the earlier days, Thornton said he could provide comfort and counselling to the survivor but there was not much more that he felt he could do.
In some extreme cases if the perpetrator was a staff member, he would take disciplinary action against them but the policies of the day were not strong.
“Today, there is support structures available for survivors of GBV through the bel isi programme and through BSP,” Thornton said.
“I am so pleased to say that today, through the tireless efforts of many in the bank under the GCEO’s leadership, we now have strong support structures in place with links to professionals in this field that provide support to survivors.
“The awareness and training that all BSP staff have received to understand the many forms of FSV and equip us to guide survivors to the appropriate support structures is very helpful.
“Today I feel much more informed and able to assist a survivor than was the case 40 years ago.”
BSP started its biggest social justice campaign “blackThursdays” in July to create awareness on FSV and gender-based violence.