Former Samoan policewomen have banded together to combat depression and stress faced by women within the Ministry of Police while serving the country through law enforcement.

The ex-policewomen's group called the Tofa Sinasina Inc held a consultation at the Tatte building on Thursday with police officers encouraging them with ways to combat stress.

Tofa Sinasina’s president who is one of the first Samoan women to become a police officer, Tavui Anne Eves-Laumea, said policewomen often hold their problems in when it comes to their unpleasant experiences with criminals, crime scenes, risky encounters and other work related trauma.

She added that their motto is "Restorative Justice"; eliminating violence through addressing issues directly with the perpetrator and victim.

"Because we have been there as women police officers and we know that there are a lot of things that can lead to depression and challenges we encountered along the way. But we try and be calm and do our job because of our passion towards the uniform and serving Samoa," she added.

"We exist to help them and let them know that we are here for them to share their problems with and they do not keep the problems to themselves so that they have a clear conscience when carrying out their responsibilities.

"There are also encounters such as seeing blood while on duty, or seeing someone getting shot but they still go to work while being traumatised and we've been there and experienced trauma while on the job.

"Today, we are still seeing that happen within the Ministry so we spoke with the Commissioner who said this assistance is much needed within the Ministry."

This is the second time such a consultation with policewomen was held and Tavui emphasised that the feedback from the first consultation highlighted the much needed help policewomen need to help them through difficulties of law enforcement.

The consultation highlighted healings of the heart before dealing with domestic violence cases and other criminal cases.

Tavui also emphasised that this service was not available for them when they were enforcing the law and it has been challenging while carrying out their responsibilities as law enforcers.

In July 2019, Tavui and a group of former Samoan policewomen launched the Tofa Sinasina Inc, a crisis counselling service for the nation’s victims of domestic violence. Tavui was joined by 13 active members.

The group intends to support police to reach victims and perpetrators of domestic violence to talk them through problems and look for solutions, with the added benefit of a sound knowledge of the law and justice sector.

It was the group's goal that the local telecommunication companies Digicel and Vodafone support them by providing crisis lines while at the time, some of the members made their phone numbers public for victims to call.