The months from December to March are when both police and the Domestic Violence Crisis Service receive the most number of calls in relation to family violence.

It's a difficult time of year as already stretched services attempt to balance the wellbeing of staff – which includes leave and time with family – and the safety of victims of domestic violence.

And in a concerning trend that it's hoped won't be repeated, the last peak summer period did not slow down through autumn, client services director at the crisis service, Dearne Weaver, said.

In fact the number of calls to the service in April (1677), May (1640) and June (1686) exceeded the number of calls in January (1568) and February (1551).

"Incoming crisis calls to DVCS didn't dissipate as much as it had through other years," she said.

A possible explanation was the family violence-related deaths of three ACT women and one man very close in time; Tara Costigan in February, and Sabah Al-Mdwali, Daniela D'Addario and Neal Wilkinson, in the following months.

Ms Weaver said during that time the service had fielded calls from women whose partners had made threats like "you'll be the next Tara Costigan".

But Ms Weaver said the service does "what we can" to prepare for the busy summer, including by calling in casual staff.

"Unfortunately at the moment we've had such a peak period already in November that it's going to be business as usual," she said.

Beryl Women faced similar problems over the holidays. Manager Robyn Martin said the refuge was currently full, with nine women and up to 25 children at any one time.

Over Christmas she tried to call in extra staff, but due to the inconsistent nature of the work, temporary workers were difficult to find.

It leaves the five refuge staff "negotiating" time off with each other so that they can plan for the busy period, "because we can't not be available to women and children".

"After this week, I'm hoping that things will just take a little bit of a slower pace and we can catch up on things that we haven't been able to focus on at all for most of this year.

"We've got many projects that we've started and we haven't been able to complete most of them, because of other competing priorities."

But, she admits, it is likely a "false hope" that things will slow down.

In general, there tends to be more incidences of domestic violence over Christmas and summer due to the added financial stress and the extra time spent with family, Ms Weaver said.

She added that access issues – who has the kids and when – also come to a head at this time.

Ms Weaver encouraged people to "pre-empt rather than react" to the stressful period where they could, for example, by organising a safety plan.

She also said that people who were feeling stressed and who worried their behaviour might escalate into violence over the holiday period were also welcome to get in touch with the service.

The crisis service can help people develop strategies to deal with stressful situations.

This year, as in years past, the ACT government will run the Domestic Violence Christmas Program to provide extra short term accommodation in the form of six motel rooms.

Beryl's refuge will also be reimbursed for any extra costs incurred during the program period.