President’s Charity 2022

INTRODUCTION

President’s Charity 2022

In my capacity as a family lawyer, I have seen firsthand the impact that domestic abuse has on women – undermining their confidence, their self-esteem and safety. Yet funding for Domestic Abuse Services has consistently been cut and the services stretched beyond breaking point.

This crisis only became more acute during the pandemic. Refuge reported that between April 2020 and February 2021 calls and contacts rose by an average of 61%.

To that end, during my year as President, my chosen charity is the Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service. Throughout the year, proceeds from our events will be donated to them. Below is set out what vital work Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service fulfils in the local area.

We are a specialist domestic abuse service who are funded and commissioned in various ways to help support, educate and empower all affected by domestic abuse that currently live in or need to flee to the County of Shropshire. We work in a trauma-informed, survivor-led way and in a multiagency arena allowing a full holistic package of support to be available and provided. We support ALL victims of domestic abuse irrespective of age, gender, sexuality, religion, or ethnicity.

ACCOMMODATION SERVICE

Properties based in Shropshire only – accessible by anyone living in the UK We have a large Women’s Refuge, and smaller dispersed properties enabling us to accommodate male victims as well as larger families. We are opening a complex needs accommodation service for women only later in 2022, to provide bespoke specialist support using a strength-based model.

OUTREACH SERVICE

Accessible to anyone living in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin We offer one to one support, advice, advocacy, guidance and education to anyone living within the County of Shropshire. We offer a blended approach to support depending on the preferences and needs of the survivor. We can meet face to face or virtually, we offer telephone and email support. We will attend appointments and meetings if requested and with our internal Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) we will attend all Court hearings both in Criminal and Family Courts.

PERPETRATOR PROVISION

We work in partnership with The Richmond Fellowship who deliver a voluntary perpetrator programme. They provide the programme and we support the partners of the men attending the group. Currently the provision is only open to male perpetrators with female victims/partners. Children and Young people can also be offered support either via the Richmond Fellowship or us if already working with SDAS.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S (CYP) SERVICE

Internal referrals only The CYPs team support specific CYP from families that our Outreach and Accommodation service refer to them.

GROUPS

Shropshire mainly though we support Telford & Wrekin with their provision We run weekly education groups around domestic abuse and its impact on themselves, their children, on understanding the dynamics of domestic abuse, rebuilding their self-esteem and worth as well as signposting and referring to other non-domestic abuse related courses and groups being run by other agencies. Delivered face to face and virtually, with evening groups offered also.

SURVIVOR NETWORK

Accessible in Shropshire only but all Survivors welcome We have a Survivors of Domestic Abuse (SODA) network that we support virtually as well as face to face. We offer “walk & talk” sessions and weekly catch ups, plus talks to organisations and groups from people with lived experience.

To access this service:

Referral Line: 0300 303 1191 (Open Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm) Email: sdas@shropsdas.org.uk Web: shropsdas.org.uk