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.
Our prevention programmes
Hikitia!
Hikitia! is RISE's primary prevention initiative — a community-led movement working to prevent family violence, sexual violence, and child sexual abuse before it occurs.
Rather than responding to harm after the fact, Hikitia! works within the everyday spaces where communities live, connect, and form values — schools, faith communities, workplaces, arts organisations, and whānau networks. Our community mobilisers build trust, activate local leadership, and embed prevention into community life in ways that are locally owned, culturally grounded, and designed to last beyond any single programme or funding cycle.
Hikitia! is part of a national movement. The mahi we do here ripples outward — contributing to workforce capability, shifting practice, and growing communities that are equipped and committed to preventing harm
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