Despite recently elevating family violence to an urgent matter, the federal government's cuts to family violence and crisis accommodation services in the last federal budget have left a number of services concerned for their future, while in other cases responsibility for funding school-based programs have been left up in the air.

ACT Police and Education Minister Joy Burch said last month she wanted to see material on relationships integrated into school curriculums in an effort to foster a zero-tolerance approach to family violence among children from an early age.

YWCA executive director Frances Crimmins said research was increasingly pointing to the need to change attitudes before children reached the age of 16 and their views became entrenched.

"In Australia we really haven't done well in changing those cultures of power and control in intimate relationships. We are not going to see any change [to rates of family violence and gender inequity] unless we start taking action to address those longitudinal attitudes now, and at an early age," Ms Crimmins said.

The YWCA has called on the ACT government to fund respectful relationships education in the upcoming ACT budget as a key strategy to eliminate violence against women and children.

Menslink CEO Martin Fisk said programs working with troubled youth were an investment that took time to pay off.

"You have to remember these programs take a generation to see the dividends," he said. "In my experience the Canberra community and businesses are fantastic supporters and very good at getting behind community organisations delivering these kinds of programs, but I do think we can be investing more.

"In my experience many of the problems come from a lack of self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness, and these programs give that back to these young men. Often they are using violence to get some of that feeling of power back ... whereas mentoring and other early intervention programs show them there are alternatives."

One of those who was able to turn his life around through early intervention was 19-year-old Connor Lore.

"I was in Year 7 at Campbell High and having real anger problems, I'd start arguments with the teachers and storm out, I didn't think I had a problem," Connor said.

Suspensions followed to the point where he was at risk of being expelled from the school, until one night at home he got into an argument with his mother, Shirley Drower, and snapped.

"I started hitting things, she yelled at me to get out and she called the police. I'd never seen Mum so scared, that was the turning point for me."

Ms Drower said she reached out for help because she knew she wasn't able to give him the support he needed to get over his anger.

"I had an angry young man that I couldn't deal with, I was reaching out for help to calm him down," she said.

While initially reluctant to open up to school counsellors and the mentor his mother had helped put him in touch with through Menslink, Connor said he slowly began to realise the consequences of his outbursts, and was helped to learn steps he could take to avoid becoming frustrated and lashing out.

"Everything he's been through, and how far he's come, he's my hero," Ms Drower said.

Five years after first coming in contact with the Menslink mentoring program, Connor has applied for a job with the Australian Federal Police and has visited dozens of ACT schools to talk to students struggling with the same difficulties he faced.

"I didn't have a male role-model around and it was the kick in the bum I needed. It took me two years to get there, but now when I look back on how I was reacting to people, I understand there are better options," he said.