736m
women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, mainly from intimate partners – that is nearly one in three women globally.
56%
of female homicides are committed by intimate partners or family members, and they kill five women every hour.(5)
To Tatou Kaupapa
Our Purpose
Our purpose is to protect and empower women and children worldwide suffering from domestic violence.
We do this by partnering with government, community and social services to provide innovative tools that enhance the safety and support for those affected by domestic & sexual violence. This includes frontline workers aswell as the families they offer support and protection.
Aligned with UNSDG 5.2, Help@Hand is committed to helping eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in both public and private spaces. Unfortunately, in New Zealand, where we are based, this is a considerable challenge, as we have the highest reported rate of intimate partner violence in the developed world. On average, police attend a family violence episode every four minutes and 1 in 3 women experience domestic or sexual violence in their lifetime(3).
The Pilot
Over the past two years, Help@Hand has worked with partners to support over 400 families through our pilot programmes in South Auckland, collaborating with partners like Papakura Marae, Family Success Matters, and the NZ Police. With the generous support of the Ted Manson Foundation, we are expanding our efforts nationwide to conduct SROI Research to measure the effectiveness of our Violence Prevention Watch Service.
The Vision
While our focus is currently on New Zealand, our vision extends beyond: we aim to bring this service to communities worldwide. Together with our partners, we’re building a movement where social workers and the families they care for can feel safer in their communities. Our vision is that governments, corporations and community services unite worldwide to deliver effective and efficient domestic and sexual violence services – ensuring that all women and families are safe, can heal and reach their full potential. We hope you will join us!
177,452
domestic violence investigations were undertaken by New Zealand police during the year ending June 2023, marking a 49% increase from 2017. (1)
$6.9b
is the estimated cost of sexual violence in New Zealand in 2020* This is the equivalent
of 36% of dairy export revenue & 6.3% of Core-Crown expenses. (2)
80%
is the estimated number of domestic violence incidents that go unreported. Suggesting we could be dealing with as many as 850,000 incidents per year. (3)
What we do
Help@Hand is a charitable trust that partners with Domestic and Sexual Violence Agencies to develop technology solutions, R&D, and advocacy. We work as a collective of professional organisations and experts who collaborate to help victims of domestic violence restart their lives safely with care and love.
Sir Ray Avery, a renowned inventor and scientist, founded Help@Hand. His goal is to use technological advancements to make a measurable impact on safety and support services for families and front-line workers experiencing domestic and sexual violence.
hiahia awhina
Need help?
Need help yourself?
If you are in immediate danger, Dial 111. Unfortunately, Help@Hand does not work directly with the public. So, if you sign up for one of our services, we will have to connect you with a local social services provider.
Need help for clients or staff?
We partner with government, community, and social services to provide families at risk with technology services that improve their safety when exiting abusive relationships. We also assist and monitor front-line support workers to increase their safety within high-risk situations and communities.
hiahia ki te awhina
Want to help?
New Zealand has the highest rate of intimate partner violence in the developed world—a heartbreaking reality echoed globally by alarming statistics that highlight the urgent need for effective interventions and comprehensive support systems to combat family violence. But we don’t have to accept this as the norm.
Become a corporate sponsor or make an individual donation on Give a Little, and help us protect vulnerable women and families suffering from domestic or sexual violence.
Together, we can make a difference. Join the Help@Hand team and be a part of the solution to create safer futures for families everywhere.
Ko wai tatou
Who are we
Help@Hand is a collective of organisations and individuals who work together to reduce domestic violence in New Zealand. We do this by combining better awareness of domestic violence with technology solutions to protect families, allowing them to live safe and healthy lives, free from abuse.
About our Founder Help@Hand was Founded by Sir Ray Avery, who as a young child was taken into care after being beaten and abused by his parents.
“New Zealand leads the developed world in terms of domestic violence” says Ray. “There are many underlying reasons for this violent abuse in New Zealand: poverty, alcohol, gambling and drugs to name a few. But there’s one foolproof solution that keep families safe from domestic violence – and that is to separate the family from the abuser. Someone reached out to me and gave me an opportunity to be all that I could be, and I want to give as many families as I can the opportunity to live a happy and healthy life free from abuse.”
50%
of Intimate Partner Violence deaths occur in New Zealand at the time of actual or intended separation. This is when victims of domestic violence need protection the most. (3)
50%
of homicides and reported violent crimes are related to family violence (3)
$368m
was the estimated annual cost of domestic violence to businesses due to lost
productivity and staff turnover in 2014. (4)
ta matou tiima
Our Team
Alan Brannigan
Technical Adviser Help@Hand
Alan has over 20 years’ experience of bringing technology products and operational models to market. For the last 2 years, he has overseen the implementation of protective solutions for domestic abuse sufferers in Australia. Alan looks after all client management activities ensuring that our clients have optimal, personal protection while in our care.
Sir Ray Avery
Founder of Help@Hand
From personal experience I know that being a victim of domestic violence should not define who you are.
It is not a badge of shame.
The first step is to remove yourself from the abusive relationship and this will empower you to get on with your life and if I can help you on your journey just reach out. Help really is at Hand and we will help you to be all that you can be. Sir Ray Avery.
Gavin Healy
Operations Manager Help@Hand
Gavin brings over 20 years of management experience in media, research, and social services, combined with a deep commitment to data-driven social change.
Gavin now leverages his expertise to drive Help@Hand’s mission of utilising technology, research, and advocacy to enhance the safety of domestic violence survivors.
Oonagh McGirr
Education and Development Advisor
Compassion and education provides the pathway to enable healing of Domestic Violence Victims to begin a life free from abuse. I want to support families to flourish by providing much needed solutions for those affected by domestic abuse.
Kerryn Thrupp
Founder and CEO of Woven Earth
We are proud to be part of the Help@Hand team and provide families who are exiting abusive relationships with essential support to rebuild their lives and create furnished homes for their family. We can turn victims into hero’s by simply showing that we care.
Ruth Money MNZM
Independent Family Violence Advocate
Ruth became an advocate for survivors after volunteering her services to community support groups to gain an understanding of what supports were available. This experience highlighted how our legal system was clearly not survivor friendly. To best represent the survivors, she recognised she must remain totally independent of any group, organisation or paymaster. Giving her a unique position to freely work with survivors and her experiences have given her a powerful voice to advocate for changes when appearing before Ministers and the different ministries of Justice, Corrections, Courts, MSD and Police. For the impact she has had in bringing a focus onto victim survivors, she was awarded the MNZM in 2019, for her services to advocacy.
Rob Veal MNZM
Expert Advisor
Rob is an ex police officer specialising in family violence victims safety. He advises government agencies, social service providers, healthcare professionals and community groups on a range of violence reduction issues.
He is committed to inter-agency partnerships and the development of best practices to support Domestic Violence victims.
Danielle Bergin
Founder & CEO of Island Child Charitable Trust NZ
Island Child provides shelter, care, support and opportunities for at-risk whānau in their most desperate time of need. HelpAtHand brings a valued resource to enable improved safety to whanau, guided with aroha , respect, compassion, generosity and courage.
Robyn Roberts
General Manager, Client Services, WAYSS
Robyn has brought a people-focused, entrepreneurial spirit to a range of executive leadership positions in the community services sector and she has also led community and private sector partnerships to deliver ground breaking initiatives in microfinance and family violence prevention. Robyn’s driving motivation is to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable people and her work at WAYSS provides her with that opportunity as she leads key changes to disrupt people’s experience of homelessness and family violence.
Robyn is thrilled to help shape the Help@Hand movement by sharing her knowledge gained through the Australian experience.
Matthew Steans
Founder & CEO, Stigma Statistics
Matthew has a background in corporate treasury consulting. After he witnessed a suicide he founded Stigma Statistics and developed a Suicide Tracking Analysis & Reporting (‘STAR’) platform for sharing, analysis and reporting of information about suicides and suicide risk. Domestic violence is a major contributor to suicides and we want to collaborate with Help@Hand to reduce family and sexual Violence related suicides.
Leainne Nathan
Operations Manager at Family Success Matters
FSM offers long-term family social services for the entire whānau – catering for vulnerable and traumatised mums, dads and tamaraki. Our focus is on improving the impact of intergenerational parenting and building certainty in whānau ora.
Leainne can offer insights from 32 years of social work experience facilitating change for at-risk families in South Auckland. She has a BA in Political Studies, Master's in Social Work and Dip in Business, but most importantly, Leainne brings a Māori Worldview to the table.
David White MNZM
Independent Family Violence Advocate
David's daughter was murdered when she told her husband that she was leaving the marriage due to the violence she had to live through. David's focus has been to prevent family violence happening in the first place. To bring fathers like himself to understand that their daughters need their help to get out of violent marriages.
His aim is to make families safe and spends most time getting the victims out of intolerable situations.
He was awarded the MNZM for his work in Preventing Family Violence in NZ.
tatou hoa
Our Partners
Help@Hand is supported by an awesome team of New Zealand and International partner organisations.
We are thankful to have the generous support of a wonderful team of partner organisations ranging from local and International Domestic Violence support organisations, advertising ,media communication companies and technology companies.
The combined skills and talents of our partners means we can raise awareness of domestic violence in a positive way and provide proven solutions to protect and nurture families as they transition from victims to heroes.
tatou kaitautoko
Our Sponsors
Help@Hand is supported by a wonderful group of sponsors from the New Zealand business community. Thanks to their generosity we can help families to start new lives free from fear of abuse.
If you are interested in supporting Help@Hand then we would love to hear from you.
Major Sponsor
Research Sources