A nationwide sexual harm helpline in New Zealand has received more than 1,200 phone calls in its first month of operation; the majority of them teenage girls aged 13-19.

Safe to talk He pai ki te korero offers 24-hour free counselling via telephone, text message, web chat or email, having been launched by the ministry of social development on 1 June in the wake of the #metoo movement.

Of those who got in touch with Safe in June, 83% were female and 17% male.

The age groups of those most frequently in contact were teenagers, followed by callers in the 40-44 age bracket.

Māori make up 27% of callers, and the majority of reports to the service were related to historical cases of sexual harm of a “significant” nature; meaning abuse or rape.

Safe had received a small amount of communication relating to pornography or inappropriate web behaviours.

“The majority of people still contact us over the phone, but we also get really high contact on web chats as well, then text, then email is the least popular method of reaching out,” said Dylan Norton, development manager for mental health and addictions at the National Telehealth Service, which operates Safe.

“Where we identify there is immediate, imminent harm occurring, that’s when we have processes where we may have to ‘break glass’ [break confidentiality] to keep that person safe. If there was a situation where a young person was being raped, then we’d be telling someone such as the police to intervene if we didn’t have any other avenues.”

Phone calls to the hotline are not recorded, said Norton, but web chats, texts and emails are.

According to statistics from the ministry of health, one is three girls in New Zealand will experience an unwanted sexual experience by age 16, and one in seven boys.

One in five adult women report an experience of sexual assault, and the incidents of reported sexual violence are twice as high for Māori women and girls than Pakeha [European].

Statistically, young people aged 16-24 are at the highest risk of sexual violence in the country, which has one of the highest rates of sexual abuse in the OECD.

Kyla Rayner, agency manager at Wellington Rape Crisis, said Safe was a valuable resource for people who were not yet ready to seek face-to-face help, or where it was impossible to access specialised services if living in remote or rural areas.

“This is a large volume of calls and we are not surprised, given the prevalence of sexual violence in New Zealand along with the current climate, [and] with the impact of the #metoo movement,” said Rayner.

“The large volume of calls through Safe to talk also has a direct impact on local specialist services ... we are seeing high demand for services across the sector.”

Both Rayner and Norton said they expected the number of calls to the hotline to increase, and hoped demographic groups that were far less likely to seek help, such as men and boys, would find the helpline an easier option for seeking assistance.