2022 STOP Domestic Violence Conference
Presenter submission

Name: Ann Wilkie
Role: Programme Director, South Auckland Social
Wellbeing Board, New Zealand
Contact: ann.wilkie@police.govt.nz
+64 21 1920721

Working collaboratively across government and non-government to prevent family violence – family violence is everyone’s business
Summary
The South Auckland Social Wellbeing Board (SASWB) is comprised of 13 government agencies who have come together with the intention of taking a wellbeing approach to ensure all children in South Auckland are healthy, learning, nurtured, connected to their communities and culture and building a positive foundation for the future.
South Auckland is comprised of many diverse communities, with a number facing complex socio-economic challenges and inequities. Family violence is a sensitive indicator of families facing underlying social, economic and psychological stressors with the violence becoming the symptom not the cause.
These stressors include but are not limited to poverty, housing, education, mental health and addiction.
Exposure to family violence and other adverse childhood experiences is also known to result in poorer long-term outcomes for children.
The SASWB has taken a test, learn and adapt evidence-based approach to the importance of working collaboratively when addressing the underlying stressors resulting in family violence. Telling the story by utilising journey maps to document lived experience and system interaction alongside other products has helped shift the mindset of traditionally non-family violence focused services to become more engaged in taking an all of family approach towards creating wellbeing within our communities.
Alongside the implementation, embedding and scaling of multi-disciplinary ways of working the SASWB has a strong focus on the ‘early years’ from pregnancy to five years with the long-term aim of breaking the cycle of intergenerational harm and disadvantage.