ARCHIVED: Croydon BAME Domestic Abuse Service

After a successful three years of the Croydon BAME project, this project comes to an end on 31st March 2023 and is now closed for referrals.

Standing with BAME women; giving them a voice for change!

The Croydon BAME Domestic Abuse Service is a new support service dedicated to helping female BAME victims of domestic abuse in Croydon. Croydon remains one of 3 London boroughs with the highest reported levels of domestic abuse, with 35% of female domestic abuse victims being from the BAME community (source: MOPAC’s 2018/2019 Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Dashboard). In addition to the usual challenges faced by victims of domestic abuse (fear, isolation, financial problems and risks to children, to name but a few) those within the BAME community are also subject to additional vulnerabilities, including but not limited to: language barriers, cultural stigmas, complex immigration issues, and racism.

Over the next 3 years, the Croydon BAME Domestic Abuse service aims to provide women with safe and easy access to domestic abuse information, advice and specialist services that are relevant to a BAME women’s domestic abuse recovery journey.

We will do this by building a bespoke peer support social network and community of BAME domestic abuse victims and survivors, in the form of coffee mornings and a secure online platform, helping to reduce isolation. Clients will also be able receive training, learn skills and build their resilience against domestic abuse. Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic we will be looking to start the coffee mornings once more flexible, safe social meeting guidelines are issued by the government.

To ensure clients receive full holistic support around their domestic abuse experience we will also connect women to additional support services in relation to their mental wellbeing, immigration, housing etc. We will also support professional services to better engage with BAME women via improved training and awareness of their needs. By working closely with key external services we aim to develop a form of specialist, high quality support, tailored to the needs of the women we work with.

Purpose

– To offer a bespoke Outreach service for BAME women across Croydon

– To provide prevention, advice and support services, raising awareness and foregrounding the voices of women experiencing or recovering from domestic abuse

– To provide safe and secure meeting spaces for women to connect, be empowered and learn new skills
To develop improved engagement with key services

Eligibility Criteria

– Woman aged 18+

– Croydon resident

– Currently experiencing domestic abuse (i.e most recent incident within last 6 months)

– Or a survivor of domestic abuse (most recent incident within last 2 years)

Please note: all clients will be risk assessed and high-risk clients referred to IDSVA support services.

Referrals

We are currently accepting both professional and self-referrals for:

– 1:1 support (6-12 1hr sessions weekly or bi weekly depending on clients availability)

– Outreach Advice and Support (short term – up to 3 engagements)

– Access to coffee mornings/social network

After a successful three years of the Croydon BAME project, this project comes to an end on 31st March 2023 and is now closed for referrals.