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Violence prevention programmes are being swamped by people who are looking for help to end their violent ways.
One Auckland course is reporting an 83 per cent increase in referrals since 2006 and now has a month-long waiting list.
Jane Drumm, executive director of Preventing Violence In The Home, said her course ran four classes a week and was about to start another one to meet the demand.
"It places enormous pressure on us ... we've had to increase our capacity and need more staff that have to be specially trained."
With more people attending courses, larger venues were also needed and places on courses had become so scarce highly sought-after classes were full, with a month-long waiting list.
"It's been a huge burden. We have limited government funding so we have to be careful with our discretionary money."
While the fact that more people were seeking help was positive, a number of factors had led to the leap in referrals.
"There's a much greater awareness now [of domestic violence] and a lot of reasons why there are more people wanting help." National advertising campaigns and a lower tolerance of domestic violence had also been factors
And from this month the Ministry of Justice is paying for offenders on remand to attend anti-violence courses.
Ms Drumm welcomes the move, telling the Weekend Herald the extra funding has allowed her organisation to open another course in Avondale.
Sergeant Craig Kitto, of Auckland police, said offenders who pleaded guilty and went on anti-violence courses would have that taken into consideration at sentencing. "It makes a huge difference. It looks at what sets people off so they can deal with their anger. It can be quite therapeutic."
Man Alive is another course that has seen an increase in the number of people attending.
"We had six living without violence courses 18 months ago, now we have nine," manager Chris Davidson said.
He wasn't sure what was driving the increase. "I've been told by police that even they don't know."
Anger, damage order of the day
The Weekend Herald spent a day at the family violence court. These are some of the stories we heard
Beer bottle assault
A woman has been assaulted with a beer bottle, bashed repeatedly around the head and face. When police arrive she is still bleeding but later in court denies her partner had anything to do with it.
Police say even though her attacker is in custody she is still too scared to give evidence against him.
They say her partner had used both hands to throttle her on the couch while screaming that he was going to kill her.
She eventually broke free and fled to a neighbour's place to raise the alarm.
Throughout the attack he destroyed her property in what police say was a fit of rage and left her battered and bruised.
Window smashed
An estranged couple, who have a young child together, arrive at court side by side. They appear to be happy, smiling and talking quietly to each other as they wait outside court.
But inside, a story of a man who lost control emerges. He lashed out and smashed a window, frightening his partner, but not harming her.
Asked by the judge if she has recovered the cost of the repairs, she says she has sold some of the man's property to pay for them. He is ordered to undergo counselling.
Threatening language
Similar stories involving threats and intimidation of family members are littered throughout the courts. Age, sex and nationality are no barrier to domestic violence.
A Burmese man, with the aid of an interpreter, is found guilty of breaching a protection order and using threatening language.
A young Pacific Island man has his case put off until later in the year because he is late for court. The court hears that his partner, the mother of his young child, has gone to Australia for a "break", leaving him the child's sole caregiver. His lawyer tells the judge the man was caring for the child and this is the reason for his late arrival.
Another man has his case deferred also when the complainant doesn't show up. This has happened before and police say if it happens again the case will be thrown out. The man allegedly assaulted the woman and threatened her with a screwdriver.
