Are you having trouble with your partner?
If you are having problems in your relationship and you feel you may be experiencing abuse, our team is here to help.
Some of the types of behaviour which are unacceptable include:
- Physical violence or aggression
- Name-calling and consistently running you down
- Humiliating you in front of other people
- Rape or unwanted sexual advances or behaviour
- Preventing you from seeing friends and family
- Threatening to hurt you or your children
- Not letting you have any money or making you account for every penny you spend
If you feel your partner is trying to control you, you may want to talk to us about it
The information below describes some of the things we can do to help.
Our Domestic Abuse Support Team offers support to women who are affected directly or indirectly by issues of domestic abuse. We are able to offer support to women with complex needs which may include but is not limited to:
- Substance misuse
- Mental health
- Disabilities and Learning Disabilities
- Black and minority ethnic service users (including asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers)
These workers have developed links with other services that work directly with these groups of women to ensure a smooth referral process, when needed, between the services. We can meet women in other safe venues if women are not able or feeling confident or ready to access the Purple House. Workers can also access the services of interpreters should this be needed by any service user.
We support women in various ways, we have some properties that are managed by the Women’s Centre, we can refer women fleeing a domestic violent situation to these properties, we have good links with housing providers and private landlords that we can also refer women to whilst writing support letters to help improve their chances of being re-housed safely and appropriately. The support provision can continue after a woman has moved into the property to ensure that they are managing their tenancy well and feel supported in what could be a very difficult time.
We work with women and children to plan a safe escape and this can also include ensuring that family pets are properly accommodated and cared for. Often the perpetrator will abuse the family pet as a means of control against the women and children, and will threaten to kill the pet if the woman does not stay in the relationship. The animal has often lived through the abuse, and provided comfort to the women and children and the emotional bond between family and animal means that it would be additional trauma to leave the animal behind, as well as dangerous for that animal.
We also provide other practical support; contacting Housing & Council Tax Benefits, tax credits, utility companies and other services. Alongside of this we can support women to attend police, GP, solicitor appointments and other services they may need to attend, providing an advocacy service.
For some women it is about having somewhere to go where they feel that they can just talk and be listened to without being judged, we aim to provide a safe forum for this to happen and provide emotional support and hopefully a space for any women that feel they need this.
Outreach support can be offered throughout the city as well: