Women’s Refuge Whanganui the focus of Tea and Topics at Gonville Library

Women's Refuge manager Jo Voice and Paula Wade, trustee.

The history and role of Women’s Refuge Whanganui, with manager Jo Voice, will be presented at Gonville Library at its next Tea and Topics talk, on Thursday, February 22.

The event is the first of a series that’s part of La Fiesta 2024.

Jo, who has been working at the Whanganui refuge for almost 18 months, has been involved in child protection and social work for many years, working in different roles and at different organisations.

Women’s Refuge has had a presence in Whanganui since 1978. Since then, it has had different structures, with the most recent iteration starting in 1988.

Back then, it was known as the Women and Children’s Shelter. It became a part of the National Collective of Women’s Refuge in about 1995.

“I have had the pleasure of managing this team since October 2022,” said Jo. “In that time, we have grown to four daytime advocates and four after-hours advocates and a full-time administrator, serving the communities of Whanganui and surrounds [Bulls, Marton, Waitōtara and Hunterville].

“Our role is to support women and their children on their journey to becoming free from family violence. This might take the form of risk assessments, safety planning, advocacy, and referrals to supporting agencies.

“Women or their support people can contact us via phone, email or just by knocking on our office door. In the past 12 months, we have worked closely with the police, lawyers, medical professionals and other services in our community to provide assistance to 306 women and have received 469 calls on our crisis line.

“Whanganui Women’s Refuge receives government funding to support 112 women and their children per year. We are able to continue to do our work with the generosity of community grants and donations,” she said.

The other two Tea and Topics talks are about Falun Dafa Meditation by Diana Leu on February 29 and Winter Wellness by Irene Davies on March 7.

Tea and Topics will have its usual format, with a hot drink and a biscuit being served between 10am and 10.30am. The talk will start at 10.30am and there will be ample opportunity to ask questions or share stories.