"The thing that stands out for me is 10 years ago the only phone calls we would have gotten would have been directly from the women saying 'help, I need some help'," she said.
"What we get a lot of now is other people around them ringing, so we get employers who are ringing to say 'hey, we've got this woman at work and we want to help her'. We've got GPs and nurses ringing saying 'we've got this patient we're concerned about, how do we ask the question of are you okay and if she says no, what do we do'.
"We never used to see that and now ... probably a good 10 per cent of the calls we get are along those lines."
There were also instances where the refuge would expect more referrals - "when the All Blacks play we know that we're going to be flooded".
"It doesn't matter if they win, lose, or draw as it happens, but what we have is women who, as part of their safety plan, will come into the refuge on Friday with every intention of going home on Monday."
Ms Hart said they would often come to stay at the refuge to avoid the heightened adrenaline, increased alcohol use, and occasionally financial pressure associated with games of rugby.
She was not aware of there being a spike in reported cases during the Lions tour.
While the refuge offered a range of services, and could provide support to families, Ms Hart said only they had the ability to change themselves, and stop violent people being violent.
However, she was optimistic about how the new Te Mui Awa initiative - which they are a partner of - would fit within the refuge kaupapa, as it was about empowering families to help themselves.
"I think for a large number of clients, [the initiative] would be well received for the reason that they get to write their own stories and work at their own pace.
"Yes we'll be there to guide them along and things like that but they get to do it for themselves."
The programme would be able to wrap around families, "but in the proper sense of the word".
"Wraparound is when a family set their goals, what they want to achieve, and what life's going to look like for them in 12, 24 months time. Then our job is to help them achieve it, not to do it for them."
The Hawke's Bay District Health Board do not hold statistics on presentations to their Emergency Department of people who are suspected to be victims of violence.
However, Service director communities, women and children directorate, Claire Caddie, said generally their Family Violence Intervention Team received notification on average of approximately 250 cases per year via any service throughout the DHB.
More than 80 per cent of nursing staff in ED had completed specialised Family Violence Intervention training, which allowed them to "undertake appropriate screening of women, children and older people where there is a suspicion they are the victim of violence and abuse".
The DHB also had a Family Violence Intervention team who work across the district health board, and with others in our community, to ensure health professionals were able to identify and support people who are experiencing violence and abuse.