Support for Family Violence
About
This is a free service for anyone who has been, or is currently, affected by family violence including physical harm, psychological and emotional, sexual, economic, and spiritual abuse that causes the victim/survivor harm on any level.
Supports and interventions can be a varied depending on your individual needs, all supports are confidential, personal and free.
Our definition and your definition of harm may be very different but if you feel unsafe at home, unsafe with a partner or loved one and want to feel safe again, our people are here for you.
This service is proud to offer the services of a multidisciplinary team full of warm, experienced and local professionals and support staff.
Everybody and anybody in the Whakatipu, Upper Clutha and Central Otago regions are welcome to access these services at any time.
What we offer
What we offer for current or historic experiences of family violence:
- 24/7 crisis support.
- Safety planning.
- Advocacy.
- Safety Programmes.
- Non-violence Programmes.
- Social worker support.
- Counselling.
- Referrals to other services.
- Lawyer, Court and Police supports.
- Information and advice.
- Safe Accommodation.
- Support with employers, schools, GP’s and other agencies.
- Community Support Workers.
All these services are free, confidential and client centered. These services are for adults but if there are children and wider whānau involved our other teams can be included in the team of support.
Safety Programmes
We offer programmes and support for individuals with safety concerns or those exposed to family violence. We also work with individuals who are using violence in their whānau or other relationships, these programmes are mandated.
These programmes involve safety planning and risk assessment for the client, building and identifying support networks, problem solving and space to talk about their experiences and learn skills and tools to support them.
Safety programmes range in length, can be flexible and accessed by anyone. The Child Safety Programmes are run by our Child & Youth Team.
The mandated Non-Violence Programme is for those who use violence within their whanau and relationships to learn new skills and strategies that don’t include violence. The focus of the programme is to create healthy coping strategies, understand the cycle of violence and the impacts, look at values and beliefs, work on healthy communication, and set healthy boundaries. We work with clients to motivate change for themselves and their relationships and support them to reach their goals. Referrals come to our service from the court (as a respondent of a protection order) or from the Department of Corrections to complete the programme.
To contact a Programme Coordinator please contact: info@clfs.co.nz
24/7 Crisis Response
Our Crisis Response line is manned 24/7. If you are in immediate danger to call 111.
We also can provide safe accommodation in a hotel or in our respite house. If you are currently being supported by Central Lakes Family Services, these options and our crisis response line will be discussed as part of a safety plan.
If these services are needed by you or someone you know, please don’t hesitate to call us on 0508 440 255
Education & Prevention
Experiencing and/or being exposed to family violence or intimate partner violence (IPV), is sadly very common in Aotearoa New Zealand. That is why we are working to empower positive change not only through action, but through awareness and understanding too.
Everybody has a role to play in preventing violence, abuse and harm. So, we are proud to offer a range of community workshops, trainings, education packages and hui to prevent harm, especially the harms associated with family and/or sexual violence.
Cover a range of topics, flexible in length and location and rooted in local knowledge and experiences. We offer these free publicly regularly, check out our Community page for more.
We also offer bespoke packages for schools, offices, professionals and community groups. These are a great opportunity for professional or personal development while also supporting a local organisation to support more people.
We also attend local and national prevention network meetings, work alongside schools, community groups and Police and the Government in prevention projects. Our development and community work teams are passionate about creating a region that has happy, healthy and safe people – join us on that mission by booking in for a training or hosting a hui.