Yarredi Services has been providing support for women and families on Eyre Peninsula since 1978, but domestic violence has still remained a significant concern.
Yarredi chief executive officer Mish Di Pinto said her organisation offered numerous services to women throughout the region.
“We’re a domestic and family violence service and after risk assessments we can provide crisis accommodation and we can refer women through to emergency accommodation,” she said.
“We run a children’s wellbeing program providing narrative therapy for children who have experienced or been exposed to domestic violence.
“The support we provide for women are domestic violence specialist counselling and referrals to other services when appropriate.”
Along with being able to refer women through to an escaping violence payment, Yarredi Services also provides women with lock changes and security windows.
Ms Di Pinto said the amount of domestic violence reports on Eyre Peninsula had remained consistent in recent times, with the number of incidents having remained high.
“In the first 72 days of the year we have provided services to 103 women – 64 of those women were new clients and the remainder were repeat, “ she said.
“There were 25 per cent of those women who were Aboriginal or First Nations women and five per cent were culturally and linguistically diverse.”
The latest service provided by Yarredi Services is the Women’s Wellbeing and Safety Centre, which was opened in 2022 and run through the Women’s Information Service.
“We run programs that are free for women to attend and that’s about building community capacity and removing the stigma surrounding domestic violence,” Ms Di Pinto said.
“It’s also about removing some of the stigma around domestic violence.
“Any woman can attend even if they haven’t experienced domestic violence and the centre has been extremely successful so far.”
To stay informed on the latest information regarding the centre, people can visit the Women’s Wellbeing at 34 Facebook page.
Ms Di Pinto encouraged people to reach out – even if they were unsure if what they were experiencing was domestic violence.
“There’s no judgement in our space and we will provide support based on what someone is experiencing and we are client focused,” she said.
“If someone is unsure they can give us a call and we can have a conversation about what that looks like and how we can best support.
“There would be a lot of women in the community who aren’t aware that what they are experiencing is domestic violence, so hopefully we can provide a level of education as well.”
