On behalf of Club I attended a session organised by Suki Rai (SI Rugby) from EQUIP (Equality and Inclusion Partnership) on the subjects of Domestic Violence, Safeguarding and Child Exploitation, and Forced Marriage and Honour Based Abuse.
All three main speakers were excellent and very informative about their particular areas.
However the most powerful (and distressing as a parent) was the one given by Elizabeth. She was one of the over 1400 children sexually exploited in the Rotherham scandal and describes herself as a survivor. You can follow her campaign Dare to Care via Twitter elizabeth #1400campaign
Key learning points for me were –
Simply defining what is abuse: If you are forced to change your behaviour because you are frightened of you partner’s reaction, you are being abused.
There is no such thing as a child prostitute but a child who has been sexually exploited
Forced marriage is not confined to the S Asian community
Well done Suki for organising the event, I shall certainly be encouraging our Club members to attend any others.
Sharon