Projects and Initiatives that Demonstrate Survivor Involvement
The Amina Scheme is a support and
befriending scheme in London for women who have been raped,
sexually assaulted or abused at any time in their lives.
Apna Haq provides confidential, one
to one support for Asian women and their children who are
experiencing violence in the home. Apna Haq's service users
organise their events, produce and perform plays, sit on their
management board and participate in campaigning and lobbying.
Big White Wall
Big White Wall is an online early intervention service for
people in psychological distress provided in partnership with the
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (TPFT). BWW combines
social networking principles with a choice of clinically-informed
interventions to improve mental wellbeing. It can be accessed
24/7 and has staff (Wall Guides) who ensure the full engagement,
safety and anonymity of all members. Big White Wall is a
community of people who are experiencing common mental health
problems who are supported to self-manage their own mental
health.
Black Poppy
Magazine
Black Poppy is a non profit making, user run organisation that
creates and produces the drug user's health and lifestyle magazine,
Black Poppy. Black Poppy also keep a blog called Junk Mail.
Jennifer McDermott set up this
charity after her teenage daughter was murdered by her ex-boyfriend
in 2001. The intention of the Cassandra Learning Centre (CLC) is to
raise awareness and educate young people about domestic violence in
young adults' relationships. CLC offers advice, support and
training to young people and professionals around teenage
relationship abuse. This involves training young people as peer
educators to go into schools and colleges and work with their peers
on these important issues. They also host yearly conferences on key
topics.
CVFL is a group of mothers who are
working to improve the Family Court system, which has become biased
towards contact under any circumstances and ignores the effects of
children witnessing domestic violence and the evidence that
domestic violence often co-exists with child abuse.
Daughters of eve
Daughters of eve was founded in 2010 to protect young people
from gender based violence, especially young women and promote
their basic human rights. Their vision is of a society where women
and girls can live their lives free from violence and the threat of
violence. They offer young people the chance and space to have a
clear voice and in a non judgmental environment.
[daughtersofeve@live.co.uk]
Dear Sister is an anthology of
letters and other works created for survivors of sexual violence
from other survivors and allies. It is a collection of hope
and strength through words and art. Dear Sister seeks submissions
for its anthology.
EVE
EVE (formerly Exploited Voices
now Educating) is a non-governmental, non-profit
organization composed of former sex-industry women dedicated to
naming prostitution violence against women and seeing its abolition
through political action, advocacy, and awareness raising that
focuses on ending the demand for paid sexual access to women and
children's bodies.
FORWARD is an African
Diaspora led UK-registered campaign and support charity dedicated
to advancing and safeguarding the health and rights of African
girls and women, in particular female genital mutilation (FGM) and
forced and child marriage.
The GAG Project is a movement to
empower and equip young women locally, nationally and
internationally to explore the impact of gangs and serious youth
violence on their lives, access the services being provide to
address this and advise decision-makers on ways to move
forwards.
A group of women affected by - and
campaigning for - issues relating to the way
alcohol and drugs affect women in London today.
He Drove Me Mad
He Drove Me Mad is an online support group for people who have
been traumatised by domestic violence.
The Honour Network is a project
designed to support victims and survivors of forced marriage and
honour based violence. The network's objective is to ensure that
those who have been told they are shameful or have dishonoured
their families start owning that they are not to blame. The Honour
Network also seeks to increase the reporting of victims and
survivors many of which who have been disowned by their
families.
A campaign against street
harassment that encourages those who have been harassed on
the streets to take action and map the location of each
incident.
The centre works to prevent and
protect from violence, reduce the fear and impact of violence, and
campaign with like-minded organisations to tackle the causes and
effects of violence by providing personal safety and self-defence
training.
Moving on up
An example of action participation research on how women and
children rebuild their lives after domestic violence, from Solace
Women's Aid and CWASU.
Peer support in mental health has
been attracting particular attention as a consequence of the
Government's ambition to deliver personalisation.
The Personalisation in Mental Health programme has gathered
examples of good practice to share with a wider audience on this
website.
This group of young people are all
part of the NSPCC's Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line
(CTAIL) young people's advisory groups and were all trafficked to
the UK.
PEEK Project
PEEK empowerers young people to deal with issues, important to
them.
Photo Voice
Photo Voice "build skills within disadvantaged and marginalised
communities using innovative participatory photography and digital
storytelling methods so that they have the opportunity to represent
themselves and create tools for advocacy and communications to
achieve positive social change".
Project
Unbreakable
The project uses photography to help heal those who were sexually
abused by asking them to write a quote from their attacker on a
poster and photographing them holding the poster.
Protection Against Stalking is a
national charity which aims to work in partnership to help create a
consistent, professional and effective response to all victims of
stalking in the UK, and in particular those at high risk of
harm. Their vision is to educate society about the dangers of
stalking, improve the safety of victims and for perpetrators
to be held to account through the Criminal Justice System
(CJS).
SEEDS is a means by which survivors
have their voices heard by those planning and providing domestic
abuse services.
Startup works with prisons,
probation, employment agencies, housing specialists, counsellors
and women's centres to organise Startupnow Days. These will offer a
wide range of services designed to get women back on track and
taking responsibility for their own lives. As part of this project,
women who are already running successful Startup supported
businesses act as positive role models and become peer mentors to
candidates.
St
Mungo's
St Mungo's is a homeless charity which provides accommodation and
support projects for homeless men and women. This includes mixed
and women's only projects and 35% of female clients
who had slept rough, became homeless after experiencing domestic
violence.
Client involvement is central to
their work and their
Outside In client group informs how the
organisation is run and what services are provided.
Stories for Health aims to support
storytellers in their practice and promote storytelling as a
'healing art' in a range of fields as well as place storytelling at
the heart of learning.
Social Film Drama produces short
films that tackle social issues such as domestic violence,
substance use and the management of serious offenders.
The Testimony Project provides
advice, support, and connections for refugee women and the
organisations that support them. The project seeks to unite
people, answer critical questions, post news, blogs and forum
discussions, and provide a safe supportive space for women.
UK Feminista is an information hub
for feminist groups across the U.K, who have produced a guide on
'How to set up a feminist group'.
V-Day
V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls
that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of
Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler's award winning play The Vagina
Monologues and other artistic works.
Voice Against
Violence
Voice Against Violence is a group of eight young experts who have
first hand experience of domestic abuse and different services.
They work with the Scottish Government and the Convention of
Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) on a Delivery Plan which aims to
eradicate domestic abuse from Scotland.
WiP's Women Moving Forward
initiative works to empower women to campaign for
change based upon their experiences of the criminal
justice system
Women's Aid - Survivors
Forum
This forum is for women who have been affected by domestic abuse
to share their experiences and to offer support to one another.
Women Seeking Sanctuary
Advocacy Group (WSSAG) Wales
WSSAG are a lobbying, advocacy and research group which works with
and for refugee women and their families in order to bring about
positive changes in the refugee system and to enhance the ability
to rebuild lives. Our members are women from all backgrounds who
seek to create a self-led organisation to gain ownership of our own
destiny.
A worker co-op in Southampton
empowering marginalised women and making pants.
Platform 51 is the leading charity
working with the most disadvantaged girls and women in England and
Wales. Service-user participation is at the heart of everything
they do; giving girls and women the opportunity to be involved in
policy and influencing both locally and nationally, as well as
involving them internally, helping to set the direction of the
national organisation as well as their centres locally.
Platform 51 has compiled
stories from some of the young women they have worked with:
"young women like these tell us about the problems they face
day-to-day and what needs to be done to help them. Their stories
and opinions create the foundations for our work."
