Making it easier to talk about sexual violence
www.safetotalk.nz / Free text 4334 / 0800 044 334
Making it easier to talk about sexual violence
One in three women and one in six men in New Zealand have experienced sexual violence, and only about 11 percent of sexual violence is reported.
Reducing sexual violence is essential to the wellbeing of children, families and communities. To address this, MSD worked with sexual harm service providers and technical experts in 2016 and 2017 to develop a framework for a national helpline for people affected by sexual violence. The Safe to Talk – Kōrero mai ka ora – sexual harm helpline was launched in June 2018 and provides a co-ordinated and consistent response for all New Zealanders regardless of where they live, when they need help, and what type of help they need.
People can connect with the helpline how they want to – phone, online chat, email, text messaging or social media. There are interpreters for over 40 languages.
In 2018/19 Safe to Talk connected with over 5,000 people through 9,000 phone calls, web chats, texts, SMS messages and emails. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive: in the programme’s first evaluation, people said they felt less distressed about their situation, had been heard, trusted the service, and better understand the support available to them.
Offered over multiple platforms, Safe to Talk is making a real difference by helping those who have been silent to reach out and seek the support they need.
Improving our response to family violence
After significant engagement with the family violence sector in early 2018, we developed a new approach to our investment in services that respond to family violence. This recognises the need to change the current system to allow services to go beyond crisis management to support long-term recovery, helping communities to eliminate family violence for the next generation. It includes fair funding for providers and acknowledges that services need to be whānau-centred, outcomes-focused and integrated.
Budget 2018 provided funding to stabilise and strengthen MSD-funded services that directly respond to family violence. We are investing some of this funding in Whānau Resilience services, which will provide long-term healing and recovery support to people affected by family violence. In the spirit of kotahitanga, we are working with providers and communities in co-designing these services [17].
Specialist sexual violence services
We have continued to work closely with providers of specialist sexual violence services to build a more integrated, efficient and responsive system for people affected by sexual violence. This has involved continuous development of specialist sexual violence services funded through Budget 2016. We established pilots to provide psychosocial support for victims/survivors going through the criminal justice system and kaupapa Māori harmful sexual behaviour services.
We completed a formative evaluation of specialist sexual violence services, highlighting positive impacts on the sector such as improved stability and capability. However, this formative evaluation also noted ongoing challenges such as service gaps and cost pressures.
Footnotes
[17] The first Whānau Resilience services went live in September 2019
