Mission Statement

It is Inner City Women’s Group Mission to:

• Work for the safety of women and children of families/whanau
• Educate and empower women through acknowledging and affirming women’s experiences
• Help break the cycle of domestic violence and child abuse
• Offer expertise in support
• Provide skills training through the provision of community based programmes and groups that are by donation and accessible in terms of time and place

Establishment

Established in May 1988 by Auckland Women’s Refuge as a support group for the partners of men attending Anger Management programmes. After initial meetings it was decided that the Women’s support groups would be available to the wider community. The Inner City Women’s Group became incorporated as an independent Charitable Trust on the 16 December 1993.

The Inner City Women’s Group is accredited by Child, Youth & Family Service as a community service and has Ministry of Justice accreditation as an agency to provide programmes under the Domestic Violence Act 1995. In accordance with Ministry of Justice accreditation requirements our facilitators are authorised by the Agency on an annual basis.

Inner City Women’s Group is a member of Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga/National Network Stopping Violence Services, Saftinet and SAFVPN, The Auckland Coalition for the Safety of Women & Children and the team liaises closely with Shine, Supportline Women’s Refuge, Auckland Women’s Centre, Friendship House (Manukau) and St Johns Community Centre (Papatoetoe) and many other related groups and professionals.

Accessibility to All Women

The Inner City Women’s Group has a commitment to ensuring support groups are accessible to all women within the community regardless of income. Many women who attend the groups are not able to be in paid employment. The groups are provided by donation.

Goals of the organisation include:

• To break the cycle of family violence, domestic abuse, and child abuse
• To offer expertise in prevention/education and family support counseling and skills training through running community based groups
• To provide support services that are accessible to all women through the provision of donation based group programmes
• To educate and empower women through acknowledging and affirming their experience
• To conduct ongoing community based research and disseminate results throughout New Zealand

Client Outcomes

• For women and children to be free from repeated cycles of abuse and violence
• Education/prevention of abuse and violence
• Education/prevention of effects of abuse and violence on children
• Wellbeing of women and children affected by family violence
• Restoration of safe, stable home environment for women and children

Inner City Women’s Group Team

Our Agency Manager leads a team of three office employees and 11 specialised programme facilitators. Four other team members provide voluntary hours in specialised fields, e.g. legal advice, staff supervision and community advocacy. The I.C.W.G’s Code of Practice and Code of Ethics bind all team members. Facilitators are expected to undergo ongoing training, and have professional supervision. Clinical supervision costs for facilitators are fully subsidised and the team also provides peer supervision.

Responding To Community Need/Service

Involvement in domestic abuse can be a life shattering experience and the Inner City Women’s Group has responded to the many different needs expressed by developing an integrated package of courses to assist women to rebuild their lives.

When the Inner City Women’s Group began in 1988 it offered just one course: 'Breaking the Cycle'. It was soon apparent that as women started to recover from abuse, many were having difficulty in dealing with their anger at what has happened to them.

In 1992 the ‘Irate, Women and Anger’ and Irate, Anger management/Stopping Violence group was developed to respond to this need.

Many women find that their children act out as a result of the trauma of seeing their mother's abuse. Excellent parenting skills are needed to manage the children. 'Between Mother and Child' was developed in 1993 to provide positive parenting skills.

The most recent group formed is ‘Reclaiming Myself’. This group responds to the needs of women who have successfully dealt with abuse issues and need ongoing support to make a new beginning. It also supports those who need to gain confidence before looking at abuse or anger issues. Reclaiming Myself supports any woman from the community who wishes to improve confidence / communication / assertiveness skills.

Short term individual bridging support and safety assessments are also provided for women in crisis who are linked to one of our courses.

Referral Service

ICWG is frequently contacted by individuals and professionals for information concerning services provided by the community.

Many of our clients will be referred to other agencies that we know and network with to deal with specific issues that we do not specialise in, such as: sexual abuse, children’s’ counselling or addictions counselling.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• All clients attending the programmes complete evaluation forms.
• All facilitators at the end of each course write programme evaluation reports.
• All facilitators are attend monthly clinical and peer supervision.
• Monthly management meetings are held which include programme assessment/development.
• Six monthly team and staff reviews are held that assess trends in the agency and issues related to service provision.
• Annual Reports and Audits are reviewed at the Annual General Meeting

Inner City Women’s Group Facilitator & Staff Qualifications

All staff and facilitators are qualified at tertiary level, hold relevant qualifications and are highly trained and experienced in the field.

Staff/Trustees/Researcher

Andrea Manuel Barrister (BA LLB.) - Barrister Family Law specialist and Lawyer for the Child

Maria Kazmierow Barrister (BA LLB.) - Barrister is a highly experienced lawyer with a particular interest in domestic violence

Diana Rands BA, Psych/ Soc. Dip ASS Cert.Soc.Wk. Diana trained as a family therapist while working as an alcohol and drug clinician. She started the outdoor pursuits company - Wanderwomen, has many years experience of working with women’s issues and is currently employed full time at CADS.

Liz Malcouronne has twenty years extensive experience in family violence prevention work with women.
Liz was also on the selection panel for Family Court re applications for approval to work with violence prevention groups.

Staff/Trustees/Researcher contd

Hazel Scott, BSocP, DipComm Dev, Dip Couns - Agency Manager Hazel has been in this position for seven years, was previously a trustee of the agency and before that facilitator for Breaking the Cycle. Hazel has been a member of the agency for fifteen years.

Dr Alison Towns PHD, Dip ClinPsych, MNZPsS, MICP - Mt Albert Psychological Services Alison is a Senior, internationally published researcher in the Domestic Violence field. Alison has recently conducted research commissioned by Inner City Women’s Group which was published in the New Zealand Law Journal. Alison (Hazel as research assistant) has recently produced a Report - The Culture of Cool as part of an ongoing research project involving young people. Further research in planning