Maitland joins 'I Run for Her' campaign and says 'No to Domestic Violence'

A large group from the Hope UC Church and a Maitland's Got Your Back team will be donning "Say No To Domestic Violence" T-shirts with the joint mission of raising awareness about domestic violence and raising funds for Got Your Back Sista's programs.

It's a particularly pertinent message for Maitland with domestic violence rate in the city one of the highest in the state and 40 per cent of Got Your Back Sista's services delivered in Maitland.

But Got Your Back Sista founder Mel Histon is hoping that more people will join the Maitland event in the lead up to Sunday.

Participants can still register online at the Got Your Back Sista website (gotyourbacksista.com) and can choose to take part in a 4km walk or 21km run. Supporters can also make donations.

Ms Histon said the "I Run For Her" event raised $100,000 for the group last year and they hoped to eclipse that figure this year.

She said an equally important part of the event was to get people talking about domestic violence and spreading the message that domestic violence is not OK.

About 50 people have already registered for the Maitland Park run and walk which starts at 1pm. About 600 people are taking part in total with runs in Newcastle, Sydney, Byron Bay and Perth. There is even a runner in the UK.

"If want to take part as a group or join one of the existing groups you can register at gotyourbacksista.com.au or Maitland's Got Your Back Team link," Ms Histon said.

"About 40 per cent of the support we provide is to Maitland women and children so we do a fair bit of work up here so it is really lovely that the Maitland community is getting on board.

"We say it's taking a step forward to ending domestic violence by getting people to speak out that it's not OK.

"If you are experience domestic violence there are services available that can help you and the community supports you to get help.

"We provide support as do Carrie's Place and other services in the Maitland area, but we felt we need to raise our voice, we need to engage community to go out and say that it is not OK to be abusive to another person."

Ms Histon said it was important for people to realise that domestic violence was not just physical violence, but included emotional and psychological abuse as well as coercive control.

"It's only been the last few years that the issue of emotional abuse, psychological abuse and coercive control is really getting the attention it deserves that it's not OK," she said.

"The government has been passing legislation criminalising coercive control. Once there was no recourse for women who were suffering emotional abuse or coercive control but now it's recognised as a form or domestic violence.

"It eats away at a woman's whole self-worth. It has a long-term emotional impacts and we see a lot of women who have suffered that and we run programs to help women rebuild their confidence, self-esteem and sense of self-worth."

The Got Your Back Sista website contains information on the services it provide, resources to provide information and advice about domestic violence and numbers to call in case of an emergency.

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