Opening Eyes Signature Program

Leaving a relationship where family violence is present is widely understood to be one of the highest-risk periods for a victim-survivor. Less well understood is what follows. The first year after leaving is frequently marked by grief, self-doubt, loss of identity, financial and housing instability, ongoing contact with the person who used violence (particularly where children are involved), and a nervous system that has adapted to survival rather than safety. Many people find that the practical crisis support available at the point of leaving falls away well before they feel stable.

The Opening Eyes Signature Program was developed by Melissa Walsh, a Specialist Family Violence Practitioner with more than 20 years' experience in the social and community services sector, to address that gap. It is delivered through the Family Violence Institute and is built around a trainer's guide, a participant workbook and Melissa's book of the same name. It is dedicated to people who have left a relationship where family violence was present and frames the post-separation period explicitly as a grieving and rebuilding process.