October is a major month for many women because it is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month. It’s important to raise awareness of domestic abuse so that other victims can get the right help and support they need to understand abusive behaviours and speak up about them.
All women should be able to feel safe in their homes and relationships but for many women this isn’t the case. Domestic abuse can have such catastrophic effects on a women’s mental health which can impact their entire life, often without even realising.
An estimated 4.6m women (28% of the adult population) have experienced domestic abuse at some point since the age of 16. Each year around 2.1m people suffer some form of domestic abuse – 1.4 million are women.
Women and children escaping abuse come from all backgrounds, have a diverse range
of experiences and require support that meets their needs.
Survivors accessing specialist domestic abuse services have often been living with the abuse for
long periods of time; the average length of abuse women face before accessing support
is six years but for some it can be lifelong.
This year, domestic abuse providers across England continued to support thousands of
women experiencing abuse, and even more children with an average of 1.2 children for
every woman supported. Throughout the year, an estimated 10,809 women and 11,890
children were supported by refuge services and an estimated 124,044 women and
148,852 children accessed community-based support services. During the year,
61.9% of all the referrals received in refuge services using On Track were rejected, the
majority due to lack of space, meaning demand for services continues to exceed
provision available, in spite of an increase in the number of refuge spaces available (according to The Domestic Abuse report 2022).
This can be a wait too long for some and can have severe detrimental effects on victims and even death for some. This month we pray for the women that were not so lucky and we celebrate the survivors who are here to tell their tale.
I am running a summit on Wednesday 19th October 3-8pm GMT and 10.00am-3pm EST on Clubhouse where we will hear from 19 speakers from all over the globe who are ‘Survivors to Thrivers’ of domestic abuse, talking about their journey to transformation.
Come and learn from some of these inspirational women the tools to help you become the best version of you. Maybe you have a story to tell or just want to come along and listen in, either way we look forward to welcoming you into the space to learn or show your support.
Recognising the signs of abuse is so important in anyone’s recovery journey but the difficult part is the recovery and that takes an awful lot of daily work on yourself. This can be hard when you are still dealing with your abuser on a daily/weekly basis. If possible, going no contact is the first step to take and then reaching out for support and putting together a recovery plan is vital.
Awareness needs to be raised not just in October but every month so that we can keep more and more victims safe from harm.
Love and light.
