Community groups support White Ribbon campaign

Many of the people and organisations supporting White Ribbon Day in Waitakere this year are working at the coal face of family violence prevention in the city. Others can speak from experience about how family violence has affected them.

Vic Tamati
One of the faces of the national It’s Not OK! television campaign, Vic Tamati will address marchers on November 25.

Vic has been living violence free for many years and his children don’t use violence in their families, but it wasn’t always that way.

Raised in a family where violence was the norm, Vic repeated that behaviour with his own family, often beating and throwing objects at his wife.

Fortunately he found the strength to stop, taking stock of how his behaviour was threatening his family and seeking help.
Today he remains with his wife of more than 30 years and together they have raised six children and two foster children and have seven grandchildren.
Jude Simpson
Jude Simpson will also speak following the march. She works as a family violence prevention advocate for Presbyterian Support Northern and is a survivor of family violence, which started when she was a child and continued through a spate of violent adult relationships.

WAVES – Waitakere Anti Violence Essential Services Family Violence Network
Also supporting the march and the battle to stop family violence in Waitakere is the Waitakere Anti Violence Essential Services (WAVES) Family Violence Network, a network of Government and non-Government service providers working in the area of family violence in Waitakere City.

Man Alive
Among those groups is Man Alive, a Henderson-based organisation run by men for men. It provides counselling services and programmes to support men and boys of all ages to build strong relationships with partners, children, family and friends.

Man Alive’s clinical director Jim Heays says as well as helping those already exhibiting violent behaviour to make changes in their lives, it runs programmes that aim to prevent men from taking out their frustrations in a violent way

Waitemata District Health Board
Margaret Devlin is the family violence prevention coordinator with the Waitemata District Health Board (WDHB). The DHB runs a Violence Intervention Programme (VIP) which includes Partner Abuse screening, Child Protection and Elder Abuse

She was also heavily involved in planning the past two White Ribbon marches in Waitakere and is delighted to see the event and the movement continuing to gain momentum.

“I think that first year we had about 400 people and last year around 1000 turned out and this year sounds like it will definitely be bigger. It’s great, because it shows more and, more people are aware of the white ribbon movement and more importantly, what it stands for.”

For its part, the DHB has been talking to local schools about supporting the day by wearing white ribbons and providing packs and information for the day.
All DHB staff (around 6500) will be provided with ribbons, and promotions will be Waitakere and North Shore hospitals. Margaret.Devlin@waitematadhb.govt.nz

NZ Ethnic Social Services Trust
Struggling to fit in to a new country, a new culture and unable to find work are just some of the triggers for family violence in Waitakere’s migrant communities.

Hassan Hosseini is the manager of the NZ Ethnic Social Services Trust in Te Atatu South. The organisation deals with families from a wide range of ethnicities and that many men find it difficult to accept the changing roles of women and their children in a western culture.

“You also see parents wanting to hold on to their traditions, sometimes in a forceful way and their children wanting to embrace the culture of their new homeland and expecting more freedom. This can create tension.

“We also see people who have come to New Zealand from extremely traumatic situations and have not sought help to deal with this.”

The group runs a range of services and programmes for families in crisis, including several presented in Farsi.

Need help?

If you are the victim of violence, suspect someone you know is be being harmed, or need help to stop being violent, there are a range of different agencies to help.

Waitakere Police 839 0600
Victim Support 839 0677
Western Refuge/Viviana 836 1987
Tika Maranga (Maori Women’s Refuge). 833 9653
Waitakere Abuse and Trauma
Counselling Service 837 2491
Man Alive 835 0509 www.manalive.org.nz
Tu Wahine Trust 838 8700
West Auckland Women’s Centre 838 6381
WAVES Family Violence Network 838 4834 or www.waves.org.nz
Are you OK? www.areyouok.org.nz
NZ Ethnic Social Services Trust 834-6668 or www.nzess.co.nz

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