Would you know how to respond in those first moments if someone had enough courage to tell you that they thought they were being abused?
Could you recognise the signs that someone might want to tell you something important about their situation?
How would you raise the subject if you thought someone might be in an abusive relationship?
So we set up a workshop to answer these questions
We worked with a trainer on behalf of Warwickshire Refuge. Eighteen of our Club and three daughters attended a workshop to look at these questions. The trainer based our session on IRIS This is a course she uses to train GP surgeries about supporting victims of domestic abuse.
We wanted to raise our awareness of the basic issues surrounding Domestic Abuse. And to be sure we knew safe & appropriate ways to respond to someone admitting that they were experiencing of Domestic Abuse.
What did we learn that would be helpful?
A quiz can be a real eye opener and this was certainly the case for many of us. As a result we learnt more about the sad facts and truths about Domestic Violence.
We found out about practical ways we could help for example, offering to store an ’emergency bag’. As well as listening and making sure that we could respond in the most appropriate way. What to say and not say is always helpful to know.
Would we recommend this type of session to others?
Most definitely YES!!!! The session was voted a great success. Rose Hutchinson, our Midland Arden Region President is going to recommend it to the surgery she works in. The main comment on what could have been done better was that 2 hrs had not been enough!
You can read more about what we learnt and thought about the workshop here Workshop evaluation & feedback
And remember if you need help or advise about Domestic Abuse then you can visit the Refuge website or call Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247