What Does Women’s Aid NEL Do and How Do We Help?

Different people will have different ideas about just what Women’s Aid actually does and the fact is Women’s Aid does many different things. If you’ve ever wondered about us and the work we do, then read on…

Vision:

“A world where everyone’s right to freedom from domestic abuse is unquestioned”

Mission Statement:

“To improve the lives and safety of anyone affected by domestic abuse” 

One of the primary functions of Women’s Aid NEL is to provide a range of support services for those who need us, providing a place of safety to support people from all backgrounds, ages and abilities, but that’s not all we do.

Services Provided By Women’s Aid NEL:

• Refuge Accommodation – Temporary ‘crisis’ accommodation, provided across two buildings.
• Outreach Support – Support for ANY victims and survivors of domestic abuse, in the community or in a place of safety.
• Domestic Abuse Drop-In Facilities – For anyone experiencing domestic abuse, who want to have a chat to discuss options available, or who may just need a listening ear.
• 24 Hour Helpline – An easy to remember phone number (575757) with 4 available lines and callers can even reverse charges for ease.
• Children’s Services – The Hideout is a dedicated (OFSTED Registered) children’s space within refuge.
• Counselling Service – Independent service offered to clients of all services.
• Women’s Centre – Support, information, DA Drop-ins, Citizens Advice drop-ins, solicitor’s drop-in, volunteering opportunities, learning, training and much more.
• Charity Shops – Enabling recycling and reselling of used and donated goods, where all money raised goes back into the domestic abuse support services.
• Service User Group – A group of service users who meet to contribute to changes and development within Women’s Aid NEL.
• Volunteering – Opportunities for anyone to become involved in volunteering for any of our Charity Shops, Women’s Centre or Board of Trustees.
• Survivors Group – A weekly self-support group for women who are or have been affected by domestic abuse.
• Dispersed Housing – 10 local properties used to rehome survivors after domestic abuse.
• Training and Awareness – Women’s Aid offers DOMESTIC ABUSE TRAINING and awareness raising sessions to many different types of learners including practitioners, students, agencies, staff teams, victims & survivors, volunteers and the general community.

How Many People Use The Service?

The size of the task in hand is another common question and the figures below are a snapshot from the 12 month period 2021-2022. And as you’ll see, it’s not just women we help, men can suffer from domestic abuse too!

Referrals – 530

Breakdown – Women 512

Men – 18

Transgender – 0

What Is Domestic Abuse?

Domestic abuse can take many forms and isn’t simply a case of physical violence, although that does account for a large percentage of cases and victims will often suffer from more than one type of abuse.

The categories of abuse described by Women’s Aid include:

And out of the 530 individual referrals received the numbers in brackets describe the incidences of abuse reported.

• Emotional & Mental Abuse (503)
• Physical Abuse (389)
• Financial Abuse (312)
• Harassment & Stalking (262)
• Sexual Abuse (152)

The age group of victims isn’t specific either, it can happen at all ages, although the largest percentage from the sample above was between 21 and 40 years old but there were others as young as 18 up to the age of 80 and the length of time the victims have been suffering abuse is between 1 year and over 21 years.

One victim said…

“I never wanted to come and get help, I never wanted to talk to anyone about what was happening, but now I am so glad I did”

Imagine…

• living with bullying all the time
• being too scared to leave
• having to be careful of everything you do
• being denied food or sleep
• being punched, slapped, kicked or bitten
• being pushed, burnt, raped or strangled
• being afraid to go to sleep
• having to seek permission to go out
• having to ask to give your children a treat
• dressing how someone tells you to
• being a prisoner in your home
• being timed when you go out
• you believe what he tells you
• believing everything is your fault
• hoping every day that it might get better
• facing the shame of telling your friends
• believing that you are a bad mother
• feeling you will never be safe again
• someone threatening to find you and kill you
• permanent injuries or death
• LIVING WITH DOMESTIC ABUSE

The above is just a snapshot of the issues around domestic abuse and the facilities and services provided by Women’s Aid NEL.

The service is funded via a number of income streams, the biggest of which is income from Charity Shops, which accounted for around 35% of the overall income at over £375,000 in 2021/22.

Other areas providing income include Housing Benefits and Rents, Project Grants, Housing Related Support Funding, Earned Income, Fundraising and Donations.

Domestic Abuse Awareness and Training

Women’s Aid NEL delivers Domestic Abuse Awareness and Training, through a series of ‘Domestic Abuse Workshops’, covering a range of associated subjects.

These workshops are delivered to professionals, partner agencies and businesses, among other organisation and last year alone they delivered 74 workshops to 1344 attendees, with 91% of those attendees who returned survey forms describing the training as ‘Excellent’.

Challenges Ahead

As can be seen above, the largest income generators for Women’s Aid NEL are the three charity shops, located at Hainton Square, Grimsby, Tiverton Street, Cleethorpes and Second Avenue, Nunsthorpe, all of which only survive because of the fantastic work done by volunteers. 107 volunteers worked with Women’s Aid in 2021/22, 93 of whom worked in the Charity Shops and new volunteers are always needed.

If you would like to volunteer to work in one of the Women’s Aid NEL shops there are lots of opportunities and people waiting to welcome you. So what’s stopping you, follow the link and get in touch. You could offer the gift of your time to help save someone’s life.