Community Workshops & Seminars

Recent community presentations

In January 2012 we conducted public awareness raising sessions in Ashburton for community agencies and some agencies working in the family violence sector.  Topics covered included understanding the definition and dynamics of domestic violence, and opportunities for successful intervention through effective partnerships. Comments from these sessions are contained in the newpaper article.

Enhancing inter-agency information sharing - community workshops

There are many examples of family violence inter-agency partnerships through the country.  Recently we completed work with the Family Violence Intervention Group (FVIG) in the Wairarapa and facilitated a review and further development of new inter-agency processes.  Through this work, significant progress was made rebuilding the inter-agency approach which in turn has led to reductions in family violence events and enhanced safety for victims of violence.  A copy of the first four pages of a best practice manual is included.

Lessons from this work would be applicable to many, if not all other communities with a desire to improve their inter-agency responses to family violence.

Contact us to discuss what we could do to help you in this area.

Police safety orders - community workshops

In 2010, we conducted a seried of workshops in various communities raising issues of how communities could prepare to effectively deal with the introduction of Police Safety Orders. 

Government introduced the Domestic Violence Amendment Act 2009 to make changes to existing domestic violence legislation.  Part of this new legislation outlines the new ‘Police Safety Orders’ which have been described as ‘on-the-spot’ protection orders.  Recent evidence suggests these orders are being used as ‘cooling off’ orders in many communities.

Participants will be provided with information and the opportunity to constructively workshop local community examples to illustrate:

• the background and rationale to Police safety orders
• an overview of the relevant legislation, including its aims and objectives
• dynamics of domestic violence offending in their community and the volume of PSOs issued
• Police safety orders, what they are, how and what circumstances they could be issued
• what other processes might need to be in place to ensure victim safety is maintained or enhanced
• how communities could monitor the effectiveness of PSOs in their communities

The workshop finished with participants discussing issues and opportunities to ensure that implementation of this legislation was effective and that the safety of victims is enhanced. A sample of the workshop content is attached here.

We would welcome the opportunity of conducting workshops in your area about these issues.