New app offers help for people concerned about family violence
The Ministry for Social Development’s www.areyouok.org.nz newly updated website has also launched the Bright Sky app. It provides safe, practical support and information for people concerned about family violence, or worried about the safety of themselves, or someone they care about.
Bright Sky was developed in the UK by Vodafone Foundation Group in collaboration with a range of family and sexual violence service providers and is now available in 11 countries.
Find out more information about the features of the app and how to download it here. Be sure to read the app warnings to use the app safely!! We have repeated them here:
WARNINGS
Bright Sky New Zealand is an information app, not a safety app
If you ever feel in immediate danger, contact 111 immediately.
Do not download the app if you are concerned someone else has access to your phone or cloud information
Only download Bright Sky New Zealand onto a device which you feel safe using and which only you have access to.
Before using the app's My Journal tool, make sure that you have an email address which is safe and that nobody else has access to. If you need to, you can set up a new one or use the email address of someone you trust.
Please be aware that any calls made through the app will show in your phone's call history and on the billpayer's phone bill.
Only take the questionnaires in a private place, preferably on your own so that nobody is able to influence the outcome.
Remember - always use hidden mode. When closing the app, ensure that the hidden mode is resumed, as hidden mode is not the default. Press cloud icon to turn app to hidden mode.
