Our Prevention Approach
Family violence affects everyone — the people who experience it, the people who use it, and the communities around them. At RISE, we believe that lasting change requires more than responding to harm after it happens. It requires shifting the conditions that allow violence to occur in the first place.
That's why our work spans the full picture. We provide specialist support to people experiencing violence and work with people using violence to help them change. We also work upstream — in workplaces, schools, and communities across Te Tauihu — building the awareness, skills, and culture that make violence less likely to happen at all.
This prevention work takes many forms. We train professionals and community members to recognise harm and respond well. We deliver programmes in schools that give rangatahi a language for healthy relationships. We work alongside employers to create safer workplace cultures. And through Hikitia!, we work within communities to shift the conditions that allow violence to occur.
We don't see these as separate strands of work. Response and prevention belong together. Every person we support, every workshop we deliver, and every organisation we work with is part of the same kaupapa — growing communities where whānau are safe, relationships are respectful, and violence is not the norm.
Be There Aotearoa
Workplaces
Be There Aotearoa equips teams and leaders to recognise harm, step in safely, and shift the everyday behaviours that shape workplace culture. Using a practical bystander framework — call in, check in, switch, and champion — Be There builds the confidence to act before harm escalates. Over 90% of participants report increased confidence to intervene. Delivered by RISE, exclusively licensed in Aotearoa. Find out more at bethere.nz
Schools and Rangatahi
Be There for Schools builds active bystander cultures where young people and educators share the skills to notice harm early and respond well. Through interactive workshops, rangatahi learn practical strategies for supporting peers, redirecting harmful dynamics, and leading respect in their school and online communities. Teachers and pastoral staff are equipped alongside them. Find out more at bethere.nz
Hikitia!
Hikitia! Te Tauihu is RISE's ACC-funded primary prevention initiative, working across Nelson, Tasman, and Marlborough to help prevent family violence, sexual violence, and child sexual abuse before harm occurs.
We believe prevention is about creating the conditions that help people, whānau, and communities thrive. Alongside responding to violence, we work to strengthen the protective factors that support safety, belonging, connection, healthy relationships, and wellbeing throughout people's lives.
Our approach combines community mobilisation with systems change. We bring together iwi, community organisations, schools, businesses, government agencies, artists, and local leaders to build shared understanding, strengthen capability, and support collective action. Through partnerships, learning opportunities, creative initiatives, and community-led projects, we help create lasting change that contributes to safer, healthier, and more connected communities.
Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and informed by evidence, lived experience, and local knowledge, Hikitia! works alongside communities to create a future where everyone can live free from violence.