Homicide Family Support
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Debra Stokes, accompanied by her husband Gerard, gave us an insight into her challenging role as a Family Support Worker in homicide situations which came into being in 2013. She is one of three staff that offers this throughout NZ.
“While we found it very challenging being a new role, it also meant we were able to make our own way” explained Debra.
Initially started as a project, it is now an ongoing established part of the 1st responder process which also includes the Police, Fire Service and Ambulance which often involves accompanying Police when families are told what has happened.
“The primary families who have lost a loved one are the recipients of our service”, continued Debra, “and they can live anywhere on the planet.” This makes her role very wide reaching.
Robust family support is available and provided which includes attendance at Court processes which can take a long time. After that families are also supported through the Courts process.
“Every family has different needs”, noted Debra, “and when multiple attendees are involved it can take a long time to go through the process.”
In commenting on the Mosque incident, Debra noted that this was totally different to other experiences as it affected people throughout New Zealand and the world. “We were initially flying by the seat of our pants but knew that we needed to get as many of our support workers as possible on the ground quickly” she explained.
Debra saw it as a privilege to help out during this situation and knew they needed to ensure culturally appropriate support was in place as needs varied from working with highly qualified people to supporting others where language issues required help with basic English.
“Ongoing support will be continued for a long time”, noted Debra, as the process will continue well into the future.
She has found it amazing to work with a wide variety of cultural communities but also challenging in ensuring everyone is working off the same sheet. This required seeking out culturally appropriate ways to interact with families and it was helpful to receive training in this area.
Overall Debra found that communities were very gracious and welcoming and it was a privilege to support families through the process.
Moving forward, it is fortunate that the Ministry of Justice is on board with funding and they also have more people on the ground as the process continues.
Most funding for the service comes from the Ministry of Justice, explained Debra, but support is also provided via ACC plus other various fund raising efforts which helps cover additional costs including funerals.
With respect to the offenders, support can also offered to their relatives who are often traumatised by what they are experiencing. This is especially present when car crash deaths are involved.
With respect to how she manages the challenges of the role, Debra explained that her focus is strongly on the job she has to do and she ensures that the roles of the different parties are known, clear and followed.
“My role”, clarified Debra, “is to help the people I work with make decisions and to refer them on to the appropriate support service depending on the specific nature of their needs.”
She noted that the Police are very supportive of her role.
We thanked Debra for insights into her challenging work and for giving us a broader understanding of the way in which this valuable service operates.