Domestic violence abuse victims’ support group could be axed
Women to ‘stand and fight’ for funds
Published: 23 September, 2010
by TOM FOOT
SURVIVORS of domestic violence say they will “stand up and fight” to save a support group from the axe.
They have launched a campaign over mounting concerns Camden Safety Net will be severely affected in next month’s budget cuts set to be announced by the coalition government.
The women say the group support services – also used by men and child victims of physical and emotional abuse in the home – have been “crucial and life-saving” and for many are “the last place to turn”.
Former Safety Net organiser Suzanne Winser, 29, who lives in Belsize Park, said: “I went through two years of group counselling. I had been in an abusive and violent relationship and I was referred to Camden Safety Net. I was in a very messy place, blaming myself.
“The group helped me realise that what I was going through was not normal.
“I learned what proper relationships were about.”
She added: “Now the groups are being cancelled and there are no more workshops.”
Camden Safety Net provides free counselling, referrals, legal advice, parenting support, organises workshops, help for men, and cultural support for people with English as a second language.
Another woman told the New Journal the group had given her the confidence to take on her bully husband. She said began to wear colours again after “years dressed in black”.
“It’s just changed me completely,” said the 33-year-old.
“We talk about our experiences and learn about ways of coping with the aftermath, and how to regain confidence.”
Members of the group have produced a 20-page book of testimonies that has been delivered to celebrity chef and domestic abuse campaigner Gordon Ramsay. It contains harrowing experiences of women who have been beaten or psychologically abused by men in their own homes and heartwarming stories of life-changing support they received at Camden Safety Net.
A spokeswoman for the campaign said: “Camden Safety Net is completely funded by Camden Council.
“Funding has not been cut, it is threatened to be cut.
“We feel strongly that council financial cuts should not affect the socially vulnerable. These weekly counselling sessions have helped countless women on their difficult journeys, providing a space to air and share their problems with other women in similar situations.”
A petition will be presented to councillors at the Town Hall next month.
Comments
It's a good place to make cuts, now ax the biased laws
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-09-23 21:02.It's a good place to make cuts, now ax the biased domestic violence laws. Shelter and services are virtually non-existent for male victims of domestic violence so those options out of a bad relationship, that are routinely available to women, are often much more difficult to get if you're a man. Credible research overwhelmingly shows that the ratio of domestic violence is at least 50/50 between men and women. http://tinyurl.com/3sakk According to one study done by researchers who work for the CDC, in 70% of domestic violence incidents, where the domestic violence is not mutual (50/50), it's women who initiate the domestic violence. http://tinyurl.com/yzm9xhe Many men wind up targeted, then witch-hunted by the taxpayer funded, domestic violence industry, because of the gender feminist ideology that controls the d.v. industry. A lot of harm is done to many innocent men (and also many battering women who need help) as shown in "Los Misandry" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAmOxvudpF8
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