Women's Aid 2006-7

The overwhelming vote in the choice of this year's charity was for the four Women's Aid groups in the Highlands: Inverness, Ross-shire, Lochaber, and Caithness and Sutherland. Two of the outreach workers, Sandra and Kim, spoke to the members at the summer BBQ and told us of their work, the problems faced by women seeking refuge and the continuing search for funds

How you can help

Your contributions will be very warmly received. We have identified three areas where we feel your help will have an impact.

1. Tesco vouchers – emergency groceries for women when they first arrive in refuge.
2. B&Q vouchers – to provide a basic toolkit when women move on to permanent accommodation (e.g. hammer, screwdrivers, screws, rawlplugs, paper scrapers, lightbulbs etc).
3. Financial help towards home security provision – women who remain in the community often need to change locks, fit door bolts and chains, window locks, etc so that the abuser cannot gain entry to the home once he has left.

Inverness Women's Aid: 01463 220719

Community Domestic Abuse Programme
The Office
Craigellachie Crescent
Aviemore PH22 1PA
01479 812144

Scottish Women's Aid: www.scottishwomensaid.co.uk

The following two articles discuss the work of Women's Aid in more detail.

Ross-shire Women's Aid (Marilyn Ross, refuge worker)

There are approximately 40 Women's Aid groups in Scotland. In the Highlands there are four groups: Inverness, Ross-shire, Lochaber, and Caithness and Sutherland Women's Aid.

The Lochaber group has no refuge at the moment, but is busy supporting women, children and young people in their community and will hopefully have a refuge soon. Caithness and Sutherland Women's Aid opened the refuge in Wick in July last year. Between us all we have approximately 21 refuge spaces. This may seem a lot but in 2004 alone the Inverness and Ross-shire groups turned away 124 women and 146 children and young people due to lack of space. This is certainly not an unfamiliar situation for refuges up and down the country. Most groups have to turn away many more women, children and young people than can be admitted – a wholly unacceptable situation as I'm sure you will agree.

Domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional and sexual. Many women being admitted to refuge have never been 'hit' by their partner but have experienced the effects of emotional and psychological abuse, which in itself is equally as damaging to the family. Domestic abuse shows no favour to class, creed or race. In other words IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE. We have given refuge, support and information to women, children and young people from all walks of life.

A big piece of our work is done with families who have never been in refuge or families who have moved on from refuge to their own homes. Women's Aid workers go into communities to meet with these women to offer support and information. We meet in cafes, car parks, community halls or anywhere where the woman feels safe enough to talk about her experiences and needs.

Many of these women have already left the abusive man but some may be still living with him. Leaving an abuser is a 'process' not an 'event'. Many women take years to leave. Many tragically never get the chance: 48% of the murders in this country are of women who are murdered by their partners or ex partners. 90% of children or young people are in the same room or another room in the same house while their mothers are experiencing abuse.

For the women who have lost their lives and all women, children and young people who suffer at the hands of abusive men, we will keep working to persuade people to have a zero tolerance to Domestic Abuse, to get more refuge spaces, to carry on our preventative work with young people in schools etc. and to challenge the myth that 'she must deserve it or provoke it'.

No man has the right!

Inverness Women's Aid (Kim Haywood, outreach worker)

It is important to highlight that abuse comes in many disguises. It can be physical, financial, sexual and emotional. It affects all ages of women, all ethnic and socio-economic groups and is very personal. What causes distress to one woman may be acceptable to another and so it is impossible to make generalisations.

The refuge in Inverness has only been open for three years and is a modern, well-appointed building. It offers safe, temporary accommodation for women, single or with dependent children, in seven self-contained flats and five bedsits. One of the flats is situated on the ground floor and is specially adapted to accommodate disabled women and/or children.

Workers in the refuge office are able to give information about housing, money, solicitors, schools, nurseries, healthcare, and can also offer emotional support. Children and young persons' workers are at hand to ensure that all residents' needs are acknowledged and dealt with.

Anyone requiring support does not have to be resident in refuge accommodation. The door is open for non-resident women who are welcome to access the services on offer. For those who choose not to come to the refuge there is outreach support through the Community Domestic Abuse Programme. This service includes Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and operates through the refuge or its new office in Aviemore. Support from the outreach service is designed to address the problems that women and their families face in rural communities and visits to any safe location can be arranged.