‘The phone rings every day’: Whanganui advocates celebrate 50 years of Women’s Refuge

Whanganui Women's Refuge Trustee Paula Wade and Manager Jo Voice celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Women's Refuge. Photo / Bevan Conley.

Women’s Refuge in Whanganui is marking its 50th anniversary with employees saying they respond to “calls every day” from women in need.

The Whanganui Women’s Refuge is hosting a national collective regional hui next week which will be attended by 12 other branches in the region to celebrate the occasion.

The Whanganui branch of Women’s Refuge was established 35 years ago, in 1988, but the demands of the work had not eased in that time, Whanganui Women’s Refuge manager Jo Voice said.

“There is definitely a need for our services, the phone rings every day.”

Women’s Refuge Trustee Paula Wade said 14 years ago the refuge’s premises were just a “small shack out the back”.

“We worked out of a little shed in our safe house which was unlined and leaky, it was incredibly cold in the winter.”

Today there is a team of four full-time advocates and two after-hours employees, which is the most workers the Whanganui Women’s Refuge has ever employed to address family violence.

“It’s not for the faint-hearted, it’s really hard if someone comes to the front door to ever say no,” Wade said.

Voice said the work was an “incredible privilege”.

“Those people who started the refuge in Whanganui 35 years ago are incredibly brave, and some of the risks they must have taken to give support to women is incredible, at a time when it wasn’t at all easy to do that.

“We’ve come a long way in terms of how we talk about family violence in this country.”

Advocates at the Whanganui Women’s Refuge can help women access support from family violence by caring for their healthcare needs, helping them through family court, or assisting them with work and income entitlements.

“It could be supporting a woman with opening a bank account because they might never have had their own money or the permission to manage finances.”

Whanganui Women’s Refuge also operates a safe house with short-term crisis accommodation for women in high-risk situations.

The Whanganui crisis line that offers 24/7 assistance to women in response to family violence began 30 years ago.

Voice said the Women’s Refuge had experienced “fairly consistent numbers” in the number of calls they were receiving from women.

“Sometimes women might come to our services four or five times before they get that strength to find the courage to move on.

“It’s not easy to leave.”

Voice said the generosity of the community had helped to make the Women’s Refuge firmly established in the community, and that their services were always looking for more volunteer board members from the community to offer their time.