READ MORE:
Family violence survivor: 'Christmas was HELL'
Family violence: My fear-free Christmas
Family violence: What can we do to fix the problem?
The term family violence encompasses intimate partner violence, child abuse, elderabuse and the abuse of disabled people within families.
But in New Zealand, by far the most significant of all family violence is men abusing women.
One in three women will be subjected to physical or sexual violence from a partner at some point in their lives.
The message of our campaign is simple - we canand mustdo better than this New Zealand.
Victims - you deserve better. Abusers - you need to be better. And every one of us can do better when it comes to looking out for our friends, neighbours, colleagues and even strangers.
So far our campaign has been highly successful.
During and after the initial series, calls for help to refuge crisis lines spiked across the country. At Shine, the phones were "going crazy".
Police are now using #betterthanthis videos to train staff in the area of family violence.
More men contacted help agencies to seek advice for themselves or others aboutviolent behaviour.
One woman who read the series was motivated to leave her abusive partner and credits the Herald with saving her life.
A man who read the series realised he had been treating his partner badly. He made an attempt to get help. The partner left him the same day, not knowing and he has since been working on improving the way he treats women.
We have been contacted by countless educators, health professionals and other people saying that our articles have been printed and put in doctors' surgeries, counselling waiting rooms, police stations.
We are confident our message is reaching the very people it needed to.
But we can still do better - particularly over the Christmas and New Year period, when family violence spikes across the country.
Over the next few days we will hear from victims, abusers and the dedicated police and support agencies working every day against the epidemic of family violence.
They have all experienced family violence either first hand or on the front line and share our message - New Zealand, we are better than this.
If you're in danger NOW:
• Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours of friends to ring for you.
• Run outside and head for where there are other people.
• Scream for help so that your neighbours can hear you.
• Take the children with you.
• Don't stop to get anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay.
Where to go for help or more information:
• Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7 - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz
• Shine, free national helpline 9am- 11pm every day - 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz
• It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz
• Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584
• Ministry of Justice: www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice/domestic-violence
• National Network of Stopping Violence: www.nnsvs.org.nz
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women, focusing this year on sexual violence and the issue of consent. www.whiteribbon.org.nz
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Donate this Christmas
Shakti
Shine
White Ribbon
Women's Refuge
New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the developed world and over the Christmas and New Year period the number of incidents spikes dramatically. Less than 20 per cent of incidents are reported to the police - so what we know of what we know of family violence in our community over the festive season is barely the tip of the iceberg. Today we have a simple message - every Kiwi has a right to a safe, fear free and happy holiday. We are revisiting our campaign We're Better Than This, and over the next few days we want to raise awareness, educate, and give an insight into the victims and perpetrators. We want to encourage victims to have the strength to speak out, and abusers the courage to change their behaviour.
