Refuge workers sick of verbal abuse

TARGETS: Tauranga Women's Refuge house co-ordinator and advocate Wendy Bryan received abusive phone calls in the past week in which she has been sworn at and threatened. PHOTO/RUTH KEBER

Crisis line staff at Tauranga Women's Refuge are being screamed and sworn at and threatened - as the housing shortage in Tauranga worsens.

The women phoning the shelter for housing were needing accommodation - not shelter from abuse or domestic violence.

"We say to them we don't do accommodation. Then we get sworn at. The housing issue is not our problem," Tauranga Women's Refuge house coordinator and advocate Wendy Bryan said.

Mrs Bryan told the Bay of Plenty Times she has had enough. She said they would normally get an abusive call every three or four months.

"But since the housing crisis in Tauranga there is no emergency housing and it's really hard for women to find homes."

The refuge received three separate calls last weekend and multiple calls the week before.

"We had one lady ring up and say: 'I need to come into refuge'. We tried to talk to her but she won't give us any information and we can't get in a word to say there is a process we need to go by ... we just get rafted with abuse." Mrs Bryan who has worked at the refuge for 15 years said she helped out of compassion for women in need.

"I do two nights a week on the crisis line, which is unfunded, and to be abused by women on the phone like that ... I'm over it. We go out of our way to help and support women and it's not our fault we don't have houses and our safe house is full."

Mrs Bryan said the calls were really disheartening after being in the game for as long as she had.

"For me it's frustrating. I do this job because I am passionate about it. I'm not here to be abused like that".

Tauranga Women's refuge manager Angela Warren-Clark confirmed several staff members had received abusive phone calls through the crisis line more and more over the last year.

"At this point in time my staff are getting bombarded with abuse. People are screaming, yelling, swearing and threatening them. But most of the women doing this are seeking accommodation in our city.

"They are homeless. They need somewhere to go and we can't give them accommodation because we have certain criteria to meet. Our criteria is around immediate safety from violence, that is our key. We only have 10 beds available, but we are servicing a population of 176,000 people from Katikati to Pukehina, we can't fudge the rules as much as we want to and feel compassion for these women, we can't allow them to come into the safe house."

Ms Warren-Clark said she would start talking again to the council about the need for an emergency women's shelter.

Refuge
*Tauranga Women's Refuge provides advocacy, information and support to women and their children who experience domestic violence (physical, psychological and emotional)
*Need help? CALL 0800 TO REFUGE (0800 86 733 843)

Crisis Intervention Services:
*24-hour, 7 days a week crisis phone line (07) 541 1911 for women needing advocacy, information, support and shelter as a result of domestic violence in the home and/or community.
*24-hour, 7 days a week temporary safe house shelter for women and their children requiring safety and support as a result of domestic violence in the home and/or community.

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