Safe Network

“A HUMAN BEING, NOT A PROBLEM”

Having a child or adolescent who displays concerning or harmful sexual behaviour can be incredibly distressing for parents and caregivers. Every year Safe Network works with over 300 young people aged 5-18 years and their families, to help them address the concerning behaviour and build safety for everyone involved.

As part of our commitment to providing high-quality services and continuous improvement, we survey all our service users, including parents and caregivers of the children and adolescents we work with. This year 100% of parents and caregivers surveyed said they were satisfied with the services their child received.

But behind the numbers are the comments we receive which really reveal the impact of the work we do, like this from a parent of a teenager we worked with:

“I couldn't be more thankful. The care, understanding, and non-judgemental support my son received was beyond anything I expected. He was treated like a human being, not a problem. His clinician created a safe space where he felt seen, heard and free to express emotions without shame. The respect and strength she gave him helped him to grow in confidence and process complex feelings safely.”

Seeing families gain hope for the future when they had little before is an incredibly rewarding part of the work we do.

Due to exceptionally high demand, Safe Network has stopped accepting referrals for MSD-funded places in our Non-Mandated Adult service, as all available places are currently filled and there is a significant waitlist that we estimate will take us well over a year to work through.

We apologise for any inconvenience this causes, which is due to circumstances outside our control.

Those who still wish to participate in our Non-Mandated Adult service have the option of self-funding this, and we are offering discounted pricing, along with a capped total cost for interventions to assist with this.

Price information for self-funded Non-Mandated Adult clients is available on our website or can be requested from: [email protected]

Safe Network has recently approved the use of the AI tool, NovoNote, for transcribing clinical notes from client sessions and assisting with the drafting of reports.

NovoNote is an Australian-based tool, specifically designed for psychology and counselling services. Prior to approving NovoNote, Safe Network did a thorough review to ensure it met our requirements around protecting our clients’ privacy and confidentiality rights.

The use of NovoNote will be rolled out progressively over coming months and will only be used where clients have consented to it. Our aim is to utilise this tool to free up some of our clinicians’ administration time for more time to meet with clients.

The Department of Internal Affairs has published its annual Transparency Report on Digital Child Exploitation, providing a detailed overview of New Zealand’s online child sexual exploitation environment.

DIA’s automated ‘Self-Help Redirects’ support those attempting to access online child sexual exploitation materials by directing them to agencies that can help address this harmful behaviour.

Safe Network strongly supports this redirection initiative and was encouraged that 27 people were redirected to our website during 2025.

The report is available at https://zurl.co/BCrQj.

Recently we had the privilege of presenting at a networking session with the North Shore Policing team. This included 30 officers from the Youth Aid and Child Protection teams, along with Oranga Tamariki Youth Justice and Youth lawyers.

This was a vital opportunity to share the work of Safe Network and how our agencies can collaborate to support our rangatahi and tamariki to live safe, healthy and positive lives. By working closely with agencies like the NZ Police and Youth Justice, we can truly make a difference in our community.

If your organisation would benefit from understanding more about Safe Network and harmful sexual behaviour, please email your enquiry to [email protected]

We are pleased to announce that we have started providing appointments for adults and young people 16 years and over, at Man Alive’s premises at 11 Edmonton Road, Henderson. This improves access and availability of services for people in West Auckland and reduces the need to travel into the city for appointments.

Safe Network now offers services for adults at a number of sites across Auckland, including Grafton, Manukau and now, Henderson.

Safe Network’s referral forms for our adult services are now online, making the referral process easier and helping us get all the information we need to review the referral and determine whether the person referred is suitable for our services.

There are referral forms for both our Waka Waiora / Journey to Wellbeing Harmful Sexual Behaviour service and our Kaiwhakatere / Navigator Concerning Sexual Ideation service. Referrals generally take 10-20 minutes to complete and can be saved in draft if not completed in one go.

The implementation of online referral forms for adult services completes the process of having referrals for all of Safe Network’s services available online through our website (https://zurl.co/SXk3Z).

Safe Network has moved into new premises in Rotorua in response to the growing demand for our services, which we were no longer able to cater for at our Fenton Road site.

We have now relocated to a standalone building in Eruera Street, which was opened with a dawn blessing on 5th May led by Zac Kingi, Safe Network’s Kaitohutohu. This larger site includes dedicated therapy rooms for adult, youth and child clients, along with a separate waiting area and plenty of on-street parking.

This exciting move will enable us to meet the growing demand for our services to the Rotorua community and underlines Safe Network’s commitment to the Bay of Plenty region.

Safe Network has recently updated its policy on obtaining informed consent for the services we provide to our clients.

Informed consent is a legal requirement for all clients, irrespective of their age or whether or not they have been ordered to attend Safe Network by the courts. As the process of obtaining informed consent can have challenges for young people, children and those with intellectual disabilities, we have published a series of Information Sheets on our website (https://zurl.co/GLmuM).

These Information Sheets explain our approach and provide guidance for the public on what is required for consent. Any further queries can be directed to [email protected].