Domestic Abuse

You can speak to your health visitor, midwife, or GP who are trained in supporting and signposting people with concerns around domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse can be defined as an incident of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence, in the majority of cases by a partner or ex-partner, but also by a family member or carer. It is very common. In the vast majority of cases it is experienced by women and is perpetrated by men.

Domestic abuse can include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Coercive control (a pattern of intimidation, degradation, isolation and control with the use or threat of physical or sexual violence)
• Psychological and/or emotional abuse 
• Physical or sexual abuse
• Financial abuse
• Harassment and stalking
• Online or digital abuse
• Tech Abuse - Perpetrators – partners and ex-partners – are increasingly using technology to facilitate their abuse of the women we support

Domestic abuse can happen to anyone and take place in any home. It can happen in same sex relationships and between family members. If you have any concerns about yourself, a friend, neighbour or relative and would like to speak to someone about this, please visit the Herts Sunflower website. 

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Please call the Hertfordshire Domestic Abuse Helpline on 08 088 088 088 or visit their website here.

Safer Places Triple R course - Please click here to be taken to their website to access a free Therapeutic Programmes available to Hertfordshire women. Triple R is Safer Places' main Trauma informed Domestic Abuse Programme which has three aims:

• To enable victims/survivors to recognise the abuse and its impacts on them and their children.
• To enable them to recover from the abuse and support their children to do so.
• To develop resilience by building on their strengths and addressing challenges in order to build a better sustainable safe future for themselves and their families

Please click here to download the leaflet from Greater Manchester Police on Clare's Law - The Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme.

To access some Relationship Advice, click here to be taken to the Family Lives website