www.womensaid.org.uk Issue 5 // Summer 2017 working together until women and children are safe in this issue A welcome from Katie Ghose, our new Chief Executive Staying Safe on Facebook No Woman Turned Away
welcome! Welcome to your latest Together newsletter. As the new Chief Executive of Women s Aid I am thrilled to say hello to our charity s wonderful supporters and thank you for your continued dedication to our work helping women and children escape domestic abuse. We ve had a busy year, resulting in successes and developments in key areas, including our research and publications. Our latest report Nowhere to turn, documents the findings of the first year of our No Woman Turned Away Project, which provides additional support to women facing difficulties accessing a refuge space. You can read more about No Woman Turned Away and our report findings on page 2. We have also been supporting our members across the country while providing our ongoing, vital direct services like the online Survivors Forum and National Domestic Violence Helpline, which we run with Refuge. The Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill is a golden opportunity for a landmark law to transform service provision and drive major culture change. I am looking forward to working with our wonderful staff team and members on this and many other projects in the year ahead. We can achieve so much more together. Thank you for supporting us. Katie Ghose, Chief Executive Celebrating a year of amazing achievements, thanks to you! This summer we launched our Impact Report for 2016-2017 and what a year it s been. Together we ve been changing attitudes and responses to women when they reach out for help, and fighting for justice. Read all about the difference you ve made on our website: www.womensaid.org.uk/about-us/ annual-review. We couldn t do it alone. Thank you for being part of our movement.
Empowering women to be safe online A FACEBOOK & WOMEN S AID PARTNERSHIP Stay safe on Facebook 1 The online world offers us incredible opportunities, but it also gives perpetrators of domestic abuse new ways to control, threaten and intimidate their victims. Women s Aid and Facebook have joined forces to give you more control of your own safety on Facebook. We are really excited to have worked with Facebook to produce this new guide, helping women and girls understand the risks of social media, and what they can do to stay safe. The guide is specifically designed to provide information and advice to survivors of domestic abuse. It is filled with helpful tips from how to report something that is abusive, to stopping an intimate, private or sexual image from being shared online. The guide aims to help women take greater control of their own safety on Facebook, whilst staying connected to the people and causes they care about. We are delighted Facebook has worked with us to tackle the issue of online abuse, which can be just as harmful and disturbing as abuse perpetrated in person. We hope the practical advice in this guide will help women feel safe and confident using social media. We want to ensure survivors experiencing online forms of abuse, coercion and control know that they can get help and support from Women s Aid and Facebook. Did you know? 85% of respondents to a Women s Aid survey said the abuse they received online from a partner or ex-partner was part of a pattern of abuse they also experienced offline. (Virtual World, Real Fear, 2014) Caroline Millin, safety policy programmes at Facebook, said: We know that perpetrators of domestic abuse can abuse partners or ex-partners online. This behaviour is unacceptable and against Facebook s Community Standards. We re proud to be working with experts like Women s Aid to empower women to stay safe online. Find out more on our website: www.womensaid.org.uk TOGETHER // SUMMER 2017 1
PUBLICATION Nowhere To Turn, Women s Aid No Woman Turned Away It was the scariest moment of my life. I felt out of my mind honestly. I couldn t think straight at all. There was no one there for me to help me sort out what had happened, just a system that was processing something me as a problem. Anonymous survivor TOGETHER // SUMMER 2017 2 Return to an abusive partner or sleep on the streets with your children? This is the agonising decision faced by women every day while they search for a refuge space. Survivors of domestic abuse are being repeatedly turned away from refuges because they do not meet the criteria to fund their space, or because refuges don t have suitable space or support for their needs. In January 2016 we launched the No Woman Turned Away Project (NWTA), commissioned by the Department of Communities and Local Government to provide additional support to women who have difficulties accessing a refuge, and to give an insight into what is preventing women from getting the help they so desperately need. NWTA supported 404 women in its first year. A quarter were eventually accommodated in a suitable refuge space and the support of the caseworkers was critical in getting them to safe refuge. One year on, and our report, Nowhere To Turn reflects on the work of the project. It reveals a systemic failure by statutory agencies, such as housing, social care and the police, to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable survivors of domestic abuse. Meanwhile chronic underfunding is increasing pressure on already overstretched refuge providers, leading to a crisis in refuge provision for the women who most desperately need support.
The long wait for safety The search for a refuge space can be long and difficult. Meanwhile, women and children live with the constant threat and reality of continued abuse, both physical and emotional. While searching for a space, 17% of women called the police to respond to a further incident and 8% were physically injured by the abuser. 11% of survivors slept rough while searching for refuge, including seven women who had children with them and three women who were pregnant. In 32% of cases, social services failed to meet their duty of care to survivors of domestic abuse. What are the barriers? The report highlights the complex needs many women have that make it even harder for women to find accommodation in a refuge. These include mental health needs, substance use support needs, those with a family too large, or those having no recourse to public funds. These barriers can result in women just giving up their search for a refuge space and staying with the perpetrator because they have nowhere else to turn to. For many women, the NWTA project was a much-needed lifeline when fleeing from domestic abuse: I got [a NWTA caseworker] dealing with my case and I felt the burden was lifted off my shoulders I knew there was someone out there looking after me. No other agency helped the social, the police they did nothing. Misha s story In the UK on a student visa, Misha didn t have recourse to public funds. Her NWTA caseworker attempted to secure a refuge space for Misha but they were unable to accept her without any funding in place. As a consequence, Misha spent time sleeping rough in 24 hour food outlets and on night buses, she also slept in a police station for the night, all of which had an adverse effect on her mental health. Unsurprisingly, Misha grew tired of being turned away from services and stopped contacting the NWTA project. What next This life-threatening situation must end. The government needs to: Provide enough refuge spaces for women with specific needs, e.g. Black and Minority Ethnic women and women with mental health, disability, substance misuse or language needs. Develop a new, long-term and sustainable model of funding for refuges. End discriminatory treatment for women with no recourse to public funds so that all women fleeing abuse can access refuge. With your help we continue to fight for the change needed to keep all women safe from abuse. Read more about No Woman Turned Away at: www.womensaid.org.uk/ research-and-publications/ nowomanturnedaway PUBLICATION TOGETHER // SUMMER 2017 3
SUPPORTER STORIES SUPPORTER STORIES Rebecca Cox is a junior doctor, women s health lecturer and researcher at Oxford University. She s also a survivor, taking on a challenge of epic proportions! Here she tells us why... TOGETHER // SUMMER 2017 4 Throughout 2017 I am running 13 half-marathons to raise money for Women s Aid and the Circle. I ve already done six, and have another seven to go! I decided to run so many halfmarathons to raise awareness for women like me who have survived domestic abuse. I was in an abusive relationship for several years during which I was emotionally and sexually abused, including being raped. After a traumatic time I managed to leave with the help of the helpline (see box for info) and Women s Aid. Since then I have struggled with feeling ashamed and embarrassed of what happened to me. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after becoming unwell two years ago, but fortunately I have finished treatment and now feel much stronger. I have decided to take on this challenge to raise awareness, educate, and raise money for women like me. As a junior doctor I see women everyday who have been through abuse; it is heart-breaking to see them suffer and to know what they are going through. This has motivated me to start speaking out and to raise awareness for these women. I hate the idea of another woman having to go through what I went through. As a result I have started lecturing medical students to educate our new doctors on domestic abuse in the hope they will be able to recognise signs of abuse and help these women. The more I speak out the more I find women tell me of their own experiences. Our stories are powerful and I no longer want to feel afraid, so I have decided to speak out in the hope that I may help someone else. My sponsorship page is: www.virginmoneygiving.com/lucky13 halfmarathons Thank you Becky for taking on this mighty challenge, and all the work you are doing to raise awareness of domestic abuse. 0808 2000 247 is the Freephone 24 Hour Domestic Violence Helpline (run in partnership between Women s Aid and Refuge)
Get involved! We couldn t do our life-saving work if it wasn t for the generosity of people like you helping us. There are now more ways than ever to get involved to help raise the vital funds needed to support women escaping domestic abuse. GET INVOLVED Challenge Events Are you an adventure seeker? Do you want to push yourself and do it for a great cause? We have various fundraising challenges that you can throw yourself into: Trek the Peak District or the Brecon Beacons with Trek Fest. Take your fundraising efforts 10,000ft high and do a tandem skydive. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa! Payroll Giving Also known as Give as you Earn, Payroll Giving is a flexible scheme allowing anyone who pays UK income tax to give regularly to charity, on a tax free basis. Payroll Giving donations are deducted before tax so each 1.00 you give will only cost you 80p. Please check with your employer to see if they offer Payroll Giving. Regular gift Even 5 a month could make a real difference to our work. Income from regular gifts allow us to bring about real change to help thousands of women and children escape domestic abuse. Please sign up today as a regular giver www. womensaid.org.uk/donate/#regular To find out more information about any of the races or events please contact us at: fundraising@womensaid.org.uk TOGETHER // SUMMER 2017 5
Leave a gift. Create a legacy. While you might not be able to donate today, perhaps you would like to consider leaving a gift in your will. Legacies are special gifts, entrusted to us by those who share our values and visions and want to help end domestic abuse. No matter what size, your gift will be used to keep women and children safe from domestic abuse, it will transform lives, strengthen life-saving services, and protect the rights and safety of survivors for years to come. With your support, we can help more women and children escape domestic abuse. If you would like to discuss how you can leave a legacy or would like more information, please contact the fundraising team on 0117 983 7133. Or visit our website: www. womensaid.org.uk/legacy We need your support today. Visit: www.womensaid.org.uk/donate Contact us: Women s Aid PO Box 3245, Bristol, BS2 2EH Registered Charity No. 1054154 0117 944 4411 info@womensaid.org.uk @womensaid facebook.com/womensaid