Sexual and family violence training for Family Start kaimahi

Published: June 8, 2023 · Updated: June 8, 2023

This survey and research report were commissioned as part of the response to Action 32 of Te Aorerekura – the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence, ‘Improve the Family Start service’.

Background

The study surveyed 365 Family Start workers, from 44 out of 47 Family Start providers, to gauge their levels of training, knowledge, and confidence working with whānau experiencing sexual violence and family violence.

The results of the survey have provided us with an informed picture of where workers rated their own knowledge and indicated significant gaps in both areas, with 29% and 8% of workers with no training in sexual violence and family violence respectively.

Key findings

We found that Family Start workers wanted to learn practical tools which could be applied to their work, and they mentioned specific topics and training providers in their responses.

Improving training for our providers is a key part of the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence, and the survey results will help inform decisions about Family Start workers’ training. Bespoke family violence training and sexual violence training is to be developed by 30 June 2023 for delivery between July 2023 and June 2024.