Services:

• Family Works Northern
• Enliven Positive Ageing Services (formerly Homecare)
• Coactive Collaborative Disability Services
• Budgeting and Money Management Service
• Older Persons Advocacy and Liaison Service
• Connecting with Parishes
• Presbyterian Opportunity Shoppe
• The Foodbank at St David's

Jude Simpson

Family Violence Advocate, Presbyterian Support Northern

Bringing her own personal experience of family violence, domestic abuse and gang association, Jude Simpson has been committed to working with victims of abuse for the past 10 years. From the age of 9 Jude was a victim of child abuse and subsequently found herself caught up in a cycle of domestic violence, substance abuse and crime. This cycle continued for the next 28 years, when at age 37, Jude found the strength to turn her life around and is now committed to helping others do the same.

She began putting this into practice in 1996 by gaining employment at Life Works International as a facilitator to help women realise their potential and work towards achieving employment. Gaining qualifications in Adult Teaching and NZQA assessment, she then moved on to work in Education Support roles at Mahi Ora, Awarua, Focus on Jobs, Aramahi and Employnz where she developed and implemented career focused programmes to help prepare and guide students into the workforce.

Jude has a passion for empowering women to break the cycle of domestic violence - a passion which prompted her to write her own autobiography entitled ‘Lost and Found’. The book explores her story and her journey to rebuild her life and is now in its second printing.

Additionally, Jude is a motivational speaker at various functions and meetings such as Women’s Refuge Community Meetings, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Family Works and was the keynote speaker at the National Police Conference held in Wellington this year, speaking on Childhood Environments and Family Violence. She is also involved in a number of initiatives including facilitating community workshops for sexually abused teenagers, police training on domestic violence and tutoring evening classes in Relationship Services. Jude has also had involvement with the Ministry of Social Development regional planning with a focus on family violence.

In January 2008 Jude commenced a new role as the Family Violence Advocate for Presbyterian Support Northern. As a service offered by Presbyterian Support Northern, Jude is available as a speaker to share her powerful story. She can provide tailored messages to different audiences and can focus on different topics such as violence, gangs, drugs etc.

View a video of Jude's journey below (requires Windows Media Player).

To get in touch with Jude and learn more from her about how to help people break the cycle of violence, please contact her at Presbyterian Support Northern, details below:

 

Jude Simpson

Family Violence Advocate

Presbyterian Support Northern

Ph: 07 575 9709

Mob: 027 214 8408

Email: jude.simpson@psn.org.nz