Our services are confidential and free and available within Taranaki.
We offer a face to face service from as far north as Mokau to Patea in the south. We also offer safehouse facilities to those who meet our criteria.
Women are supported to work out what they want to do and their decisions are respected.
Our services include:
- 24 hour crisis phone line
- Safe house
- Confidential listening and support
- Home visits (which includes rural areas)
- Advocacy and support
- Information on legal issues, safety plans etc
- Referrals to counsellors, lawyers etc.
If a woman chooses to:
- Stay with her partner, we will assist her to develop a safety plan to use if she feels she is unsafe.
- Leave her partner, we will assist her to put in place a plan to keep herself and her children safe. (The most dangerous time for a woman is when she leaves a relationship.)
If a woman feels overwhelmed we can support her to make and attend any of the appointments she needs. These could include:
A lawyer to get a protection or parenting order
Work and Income to get emergency or ongoing income support
Kāinga Ora to find accommodation
Counselling
Whanau Protect – National Home Safety Service
This service is available to victims of domestic violence who are at high risk of repeat victimization and of serious injury or death, if they remain in their homes without a safety upgrade.
As part of the National Home Safety Service the victims’ homes are upgraded. For example, doors and windows are strengthened, locks replaced, and a blueprint for home safety is developed to walk families through the new security measures and how to use them to keep themselves safe. In addition the victims are provided with a personal alarm (for up to 6 months) to activate when they feel they may be, or are, at risk.
A Woman must meet the following criteria to enter the service:
- She wants to live separately from the offender and does not want the offender in her home
- Her experience of domestic violence must meet the definition of domestic violence as described under the relevant sections of the Family Violence Act 2018
- She must have been in a domestic relationship with the offender
- She is at high risk of harm from the offender.
Please liaise with us if a referral does not meet the above criteria to discuss options.
