NZ help@hand Family Violence Charitable Trust To Launch In Australia

Sydney - New Zealand’s social trail blazing help@hand family violence charitable trust is about to launch in Sydney, Australia.

Family violence is a big problem in Australia, on average one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner and one in three women have experienced physical and or sexual violence since the age of 15.

Almost ten women a day are hospitalised for assault injuries perpetrated by a spouse or domestic partner. An Australian-first help@hand branch to support family violence issues is about to be set up in Sydney.

Help@hand chief executive and founder Sir Ray Avery says for more than two years his company has worked in partnership with commercial companies in Australia to roll out their domestic violence prevention programme.

It provides victims of family violence with 24/7 personal protection and support. However, some Australian family violence prevention agencies particularly in regional NSW are struggling with limited resources to support the increasing needs of victims.

Sir Ray says they lack the financial resources to implement tech solutions which reduce the incidence of physical and mental abuse for victims particularly when they are exiting violent relationships.

“Another key learning from working with family violence agencies has been the increasing need to provide frontline support and counselling staff with personal protection and remote support so they feel safe when dealing with high-risk situations in the community,” he says.

“In the course of their work frontline family violence support and counselling staff are exposed to highly stressful and emotionally charged environments and say they feel much safer when wearing our proven personal safety monitoring system. “

The help@hand team will help by providing the agencies and their staff with funding and technical support to ensure their staff and the people they care for are safe from harm.

Help@hand will be based in Sydney where the rates of domestic violence are increasing particularly in regional communities and local agencies say the sector needs better support.

Sir Ray says they know the help@hand prevention programme save lives and allow victims of family violence to get on with their lives safe in the knowledge that we are monitoring their safety 24/7 and help is just a press of a button away.

Help@hand wishes to partner with family violence support agencies in Australia and experts and potential sponsors to roll out a nationwide help@hand domestic violence prevention programme.

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