Be strong like a girl at self-defence classes

"Myself being one among female instructors, I am noticing more girls are coming in so its really a positive thing to show girls they can do it," Ms Housden said.

"It is good for them to learn from when they're younger to help build up their confidence, learn how to set boundaries and be confident with themselves."

The Strong Like A Girl self-defense free classes recently announced by Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders is a new initiative by the Dubbo Violence Prevention Collective (DVPC).

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Initial funding has been made available for the Dubbo-Orana region to kick-start the program urging young girls and adult women to build their confidence and be able to respond to situations.

It is also part of making available a wider range of services for women in the region as part of the NSW Women's Week celebration from March 7 to 13 this year.

Mr Saunders met Ms Housden at the Police Citizens Youth Club to discuss the DVPC initiative telling him upcoming classes now have "full class of girls". Ms Housden runs Kaishin Taekwondo classes around the city.

"It's providing much more than just skills to assess and respond to dangerous situations, they can help build self-confidence, fitness and flexibility, improve focus and concentration and help develop social skills," Mr Saunders said.

"In the same way, its my hope that the well-being sessions on offer will empower local women, by connecting them with some of the support providers available."

Though he has not had self-defense lessons himself, Mr Saunders agreed learning it, especially girls who has never tried it, "is really a good thing particularly with self-defense".

Detective Sally Treacey said Dubbo police would be actively getting involved in encouraging young women and girls to take part in the Strong Like A Girl initiative because it would be running alongside the program, Staying Home Leaving Violence.

"We have a great team proactively working alongside DV case managers and victims," Detective Treacey said, adding domestic violence cases are a huge concern statewide.

Mr Saunders said the NSW government's approach to preventing occurrence of domestic violence include streamlining referral process for those experiencing abuse which offers targeted, multi agency response to help reduce the risk to a potential victim, and Strong Like A Girl is one "angle" to beat a scourge.