News & Campaigns

All the latest from HER-itage and our affiliates

Holistic, tailored support pays off in recovery from domestic and sexual violence – Solace Women’s Aid

Domestic and sexual violence services join forces in partnership covering every London borough, providing approximately £6 social return for every £1 invested in life-saving services, new research from Solace Women’s Aid shows.

A new report published today evidences the efficiency and quality of services provided by the Ascent Advice & Counselling (A&C) partnership, which supports women and girls across London who have been affected by all forms of violence and abuse. Between 2013 and 2015 the Partnership helped a staggering 24,206 women to improve their safety, better manage their mental health, reduce medication, increase self-esteem and confidence and improve their relationship with children and family. While catastrophic funding cuts persist at a local level as budgets are slashed, protecting these ring-fenced funds across-London is an absolute priority to ensure the Partnerships life-saving work continues.

One vulnerable woman explains, ‘Once I approached the Ascent partner I started to understand about my options and my rights. This took me and my son out of the homelessness and destitution state I was in. Without the Ascent partner I would have been lost. Without them I would probably have committed suicide. Everything that has happened to me has been thanks to the great support and help I have received from them.’

The size and scope of the Partnership, which comprises 14 organisations and covers all 33 boroughs in London, enables more women to be able to receive vital, consistent, high-quality services which might otherwise be inaccessible. Women are able to get the support they want and need, regardless of where they live, so it’s no longer a “postcode lottery” when it comes to escaping and recovering from abuse. Of the 24,206 women and girls the Partnership supported, 77% were from BME groups. This indicates the success of the partnership in supporting specific hard to reach communities. The experience and expertise of the partner organisations means they understand what is needed to support women on the journey from abuse to recovery. Mary Mason, CEO of Solace Women’s Aid, lead partner for Ascent A&C, explains that ‘every woman who asks us for help has experienced horrific abuse but every woman’s experience is unique. Recovery is not a linear, one-way street so it’s vital that we deliver holistic and tailored support to reflect survivors’ individual experiences’.

Moving on from abuse can involve a complex web of activity including safety planning, advice, help with housing, group support, legal advocacy, emergency accommodation, counselling and language or culturally specific support. Often a combination of these services, which a woman can dip in and out of, is essential to help rebuild her life free from violence.

From Sioned Churchill, Trust for London ‘Building up robust evidence about the value of specialist advice and support for women who are experiencing domestic violence, has been a real challenge for many years.  The first priority will always be to offer that support to ensure women’s safety, but this report also shows the importance of taking time out to capture the difference the work has made in a consistent way. As a result, there is now strong evidence about the huge impact of the Ascent partnership’s work, and the enormous benefit this brings to the women themselves, as well as society as a whole. It also highlights the value of directing our financial resources to where they will make the most difference to women’s lives’.

The Ascent A&C partnership’s ‘model of excellence’ is evidenced via external evaluation using Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology. The executive summary and the full impact report will be available to download at here: www.solacewomensaid.org/social-impact-2015

Press Release at http://solacewomensaid.org/holistic-tailored-support-pays-off-in-recovery-from-domestic-and-sexual-violence/

See also: 12 November 2015 18:30 ~ Rock Against Violence – Sounds of Solace – Benefit – London http://www.womensgrid.org.uk/groups/?p=3538

November 5, 2015

Rape Crisis comments on latest data on recorded rapes in England and Wales

In response to the ‘digests’ from HMIC’s Rape Monitoring Group, which give a picture of how reported rapes are handled across all 42 police forces in England and Wales, Rape Crisis spokesperson Katie Russell said:

“Rape Crisis welcomes the Rape Monitoring Group’s commitment to transparency and to enabling scrutiny of the handling of sexual offences by the police.

The increase in recorded rapes that today’s figures reveal mirror the unprecedented level of demand we are currently experiencing for our specialist Rape Crisis services; our network supported over 50,000 sexual violence survivors on an ongoing basis last year, an increase of 50% since 2012/13, and answered 165,000 helpline calls.

It’s positive that more sexual violence survivors are coming forward to seek support and justice as sexual offences are historically and still hugely under-reported in comparison to other crimes and survivors often live alone with their experiences for years before disclosing what’s happened to them.

Today’s figures might also suggest a steady improvement in the way police record sexual offences, which we of course welcome.

Rape Crisis believes that the rise in recorded rapes of children reflects an increase in the number of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse reporting to the police.

However, it is not easy to evidence this from the existing published data because reported offences continue to be presented in such a way that they reflect the age at the time the offence took place, but not at reporting. This is of concern; adult survivors of child sexual abuse have been ‘hidden’ for far too long and continue to be unseen within published statistics.

The wide disparities in the figures between different police forces also remain an issue of concern that we continue to highlight.

Whatever else this data tells us though, it is a clear reminder that central Government and local commissioners need urgently to prioritise resources for the record numbers of sexual violence survivors now coming forward to seek the support and justice they want and deserve; currently only half of our specialist Rape Crisis support and advocacy services are funded beyond March 2016.”

Press Release at http://rapecrisis.org.uk/news/rape-crisis-comments-on-latest-data-on-recorded-rapes-in-eng

November 5, 2015

The Poppy Project is now an independent Entity

The team at the POPPY Project wishes to announce it is now an Independent Entity. POPPY was founded by the late great Denise Marshall in 2003 under the umbrella of Eaves Housing for Women. In the weeks following an announcement of Eaves’ closure the POPPY team made a unanimous decision to establish the project as an independent entity so that our great work supporting female victims of human trafficking and modern day slavery can continue.

POPPY is and will remain a leading voice in championing the human rights of survivors of human trafficking. We are of the view that the women and girls we assist deserve a holistic, independent and human rights based support, and we will continue to empower those who are silenced or not heard. We take this opportunity to thank all our friends, volunteers and supporters.

They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds!

Check https://www.facebook.com/poppyprojectuk/timeline

November 5, 2015

Updates on SOS Calais – Supporting Our Sisters in Calais

Report of our second visit to ‘the jungle’.

We spent a day at the warehouse used for collection drop-off and distribution of donations run by L’Auberge des Migrants. This is a large space but it was full of donations, with more and more arriving with each passing hour. There is a very efficient system for sorting donations and nothing is wasted but it is endless work and, as soon as volunteers sort items, more arrives. It really brought home how important it is to only donate items that are necessary and useful at that time: space is at a premium and much time and effort is used sorting and removing unsuitable items. Whilst at the warehouse, a volunteer came several times asking for children’s clothes, once for a three month old baby, which, on a rainy day in a cold warehouse, made us think how dire the situation really is for the new mothers trying to take care of their children in ‘the jungle’.

Megan and Paul went into ‘the jungle’ to distribute sacks of onions, spices and tinned food to two of the community kitchens that have been set up to try to ensure every resident of the camp gets one hot meal a day. These are separate from the ‘official’ kitchen at the Jules Ferry Centre and are run by female residents of the camp. Whilst there, they met a young Iraqi woman who had arrived at the camp that day with her 12 year-old twin daughters, her 2 year-old son and her three month old daughter, possibly the same child Ali had but a package of clothes and essentials together for at the warehouse. The Iraqi woman made the journey with her mother and had given birth in Turkey after a treacherous boat trip. One of the volunteers at the camp, who is there for a longer period, helped to secure the family a van to sleep in and the children were happy to have some sweets but the long-term prospects for the family are very concerning.

We took lots of women’s underwear and socks, which was purchased, in part, with a donation made by the Southend-on-Sea Unison branch and the local TUC. We also took a lot of chocolate!

These donations were given to Liz Clegg, who went to the camp in August 2015 to distribute wellies and has never left. She lives in ‘the jungle’ and runs a small women-only safe space where female residents of the camp can go to collect essentials and, once a week, get clothes in a ‘boutique’ where the women’s space is set up to be like a shop so residents can browse and choose their own items. Liz is playing a vital role in ‘the jungle’ and supporting her is definitely supporting our sisters in Calais so, we gave her £300 to continue her amazing work and to ensure that her vehicle is in good working order for the winter months.

In addition to this trip, we have also been working with Clement Blain and Association Salam to provide three winterised tents that have a stove, which will hopefully provide proper shelter for around 30 people over the coming winter months.

After many, many set backs and a great deal of hard work, Clement has secured the appropriate tents and these will be erected once the French government have identified the area of ‘the jungle’ which will be cleared to accommodate them along with the 1500 refugee tents they have said they will provide. The French government have guaranteed that these tents are not at risk of being demolished, which is obviously a great concern for us all. This will be overseen by an NGO already operating in ‘the jungle’ and will be allocated to women and children who are new residents and who may not wish to leave the male members of their family, which they would need to do if they were housed at the Jules Ferry Centre.

You can find Clement’s updates here: http://gogetfunding.com/provide-shelters-to-migrants-in-calais/

So, what’s next?

As you can see from this latest update, the work we are able to do in collaboration with other groups and NGOs in Calais has moved way beyond providing sanitary products. In fact, as a result of everyone’s amazing generosity, we are in a position to be able to fulfil all future need for sanitary products.

What we hope to do now is to work closely with the existing women’s services in ‘the jungle’ to expand the provision. For example, a group of women from Eritrea would like to open a nail bar, which was their profession before the camp, and we hope to be able to help them build that. Of course, life in ‘the jungle’ is not predictable and the actions of the French government and police could mean plans change but that is what we hope for the moment.In the long-term, we also hope to help provide advice and support from sexual health nurses for women in the camp. There is a great deal of discussion taking place between international women’s organisations and government bodies with regard to the sexual violence and forced prostitution that is happening in the camp and we are contributing to that work.

Our major concern is how much ‘the jungle’ has changed in the past 6 weeks since our last visit. Official estimates have the number of residents at 6000, so double what it was in August, but volunteers on the ground estimate it is closer to 8000.The area is noticeably more crowded and, of course, the change in weather means the mud is now a massive problem, as is stagnant water and the lack of toilet facilities.Helping women and children keep warm, dry and able to cook hot meals in the coming months is going to be our priority in Calais whilst we also work on ‘encouraging’ organisations outside Calais to recognise the specific dangers women and children face as long as the camp exists.

Supporting Our Sisters in Calais has become something we never would have thought it could when we started this only three months ago and that is ALL down to the generosity of friend and many, many strangers.Please, continue to follow our updates and share the link far and wide so we can continue what we do: http://gogetfunding.com/supporting-sisters-in-calais/

With love and solidarity

Helen, Helen and Meg.

http://gogetfunding.com/blog-single-update/?blogpre=3557911&single=6784

Check http://gogetfunding.com/supporting-sisters-in-calais/

And https://twitter.com/supportingsis

Links to other refugee support groups and donations sort:

November 5, 2015

17 November 2015 10:00 ~ Preventing violence against women, domestic abuse & sexual violence – Welsh Women’s Aid – Wrexham

Partnership seminar and Welsh Women’s Aid’s AGM
Glyndwr University, Wrexham, LL11 2AW

Welsh Women’s Aid invites you to join us for our Partnership Seminar ‘Preventing violence against women, domestic abuse & sexual violence’ and our 2015 Annual General Meeting.

This seminar coincides with the recent enactment of key sections of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015.

Benefits of attending:

  • Find out what the new statutory duty to prevent violence against women in Wales means for your service;
  • Hear in-depth discussion and good practice examples on how to prevent violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence from leading practitioners and academics in the field;
  • Consider how survivors can empower and educate your services to improve prevention work;
  • Question the first National Advisor on Violence against Women on her priorities for the year ahead.

Who should attend: local government policy makers, local authority and police & crime commissioners; children’s services, education and health professionals including public health, specialist services, domestic abuse coordinators, housing authorities, community safety teams and others with an interest in preventing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in their organisations, workplaces and communities.

The day, which begins with Welsh Women’s Aid’s Annual General Meeting (10:00 – 10:30 am), includes:

  • A Q&A session with the first National Advisor on Violence against Women and other forms of Gender-based Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence: Rhian Bowen Davies
  • Expert advice about preventing violence against women from Liz Kelly, Professor of Sexualised Violence at London Metropolitan University
  • A panel discussion, chaired by Julia Hobbs, North Wales Prevention Group, about emerging practice and initiatives

Attendance is free. To book a place, please email events@welshwomensaid.org.uk.

For more information, please download these leaflet(s):

  • Click here for more information
  • Cliciwch ymaam rhagor o wybodaeth

Check http://www.welshwomensaid.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=168/31672.html

November 5, 2015