A grassroots non-contact boxing program in Darwin is showing the need for trauma recovery programs that are built around local communities in the Northern Territory.

Key points:

• Resilience Boxing is a non-contact boxing program for women and gender-diverse people who have experienced gendered violence, family violence, sexual violence or trauma
• The Darwin-based program has supported more than 360 women and gender-diverse people across the Top End
• Non-contact, trauma-informed programs have reported benefits including reduced anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

Charles Darwin University social work lecturer Ellen Gray began Resilience Boxing in late 2024 as Darwin's first and only non-contact boxing program for women and gender-diverse people who have experienced gendered violence, family violence, sexual violence or trauma.

In less than two years of operation the program has already supported more than 360 women and gender-diverse people across the Top End.

It has also grown into a research-informed community partnership model that has attracted interest from leading social service providers in the Northern Territory.

Resilience Boxing is a 12-week clinical recovery program led by experienced allied health practitioners. It combines trauma-informed boxing, psychoeducation, regulation strategies and partnered activities to build confidence, body awareness, distress tolerance, communication and connection.

Ms Gray said the program was responding to a gap in local support.

"These outcomes are particularly important in the Darwin region, where the FDSV service network is overstretched, many victim-survivors are unable to access timely support, and isolation is a common impact of gendered violence," she said.

Non-contact, trauma-informed programs in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have reported benefits including reduced anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. They have also reported improvements in emotional regulation, confidence, agency and social connection.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows one in four women have experienced violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15.

Two in three First Nations people have experienced violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls are 27 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence-related assaults.

Ms Gray said recovery and prevention work in the NT needed to be shaped by local realities.

"The Northern Territory has a unique and evolving landscape, and the social realities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls experiencing violence are complex," she said.

"Violence recovery and prevention program design in the Northern Territory must therefore be place-based.

"Co-designing a culturally responsive model of practice with industry and community means responding to these realities by working with, and alongside, the people most impacted."

Resilience Boxing is preparing for its third intake in July and August.

Past participants have described the program as helping them build confidence in their personal and professional lives.

One participant said the program helped challenge expectations placed on women and girls.

"The program challenged the way society conditioned women and young girls to make themselves small in the face of confrontation," one participant said.

Of the 53 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander touch points in the program, two Aboriginal women have progressed into support coaching roles.

Another participant said the program had helped strengthen their confidence and connection with others.

"I feel like I have built a great relationship with myself and others and I have recognised my confidence has really sparked," one participant said.

Ms Gray is now leading the program into a new phase linked to CDU research and community partnerships.

The work is focused on co-designing a trauma-informed model suited to the Northern Territory.

It includes research collaborations with local family and domestic violence services, including Ruby Gaea Darwin Centre Against Sexual Violence, Dawn House, YWCA and the Amplifying Voices NT Lived Experience Network.

The research will form the basis of Ms Gray's PhD and aims to address a gap in trauma-informed recovery interventions in the NT.

Ms Gray said recovery needed support beyond crisis responses.

"A whole-of-community response is needed to address gendered violence and support victim-survivors beyond crisis intervention," she said.

"Collaborating with industry will strengthen community capacity by building clearer pathways to recovery and fostering more connected, resilient communities that support healing, recovery, and prevention.

"Embodied approaches are an important part of this work."

She said the next step was to draw on industry expertise, lived experience and community knowledge to develop a model of practice that could be implemented across the Darwin region in 2027.

Equipment is supplied, sessions are adapted for people with different fitness and experience levels, fees are $8 to $10 per session and free places are provided where cost is a barrier.