Discover how is Cardiff Women’s Aid fostering warmth and safety this Christmas for survivors of abuse and violence.
Female refugees in Cardiff are at increased risk of domestic abuse over the Christmas period, according to a local charity.
A Safe Christmas campaign heads up this December, Cardiff Women’s Aid tackles rising costs and employs diverse fundraising strategies to address the mounting financial challenges.
“For example, we have three different refuges across Cardiff city. Those bills for each of these three refuges have individually increased. The costs, such as gas, electricity, even the food that we provide for the women in refuge, have considerably risen in the last few months for us.” said Rebeccha Pinhorne, the Fundraising Officer of CWA.
The cost of living crisis and the cost to keep refugees warm have become a serious concern like many this year, and no news of it going back to normal at the moment.
CWA also holds therapies to give women and children both safety and joy to encourage them keep a positive attitude towards life.
“One session that’s called Own My Life,” said Rebeccha, “it’s a 12-week session and it’s a group session, and it helps women come together to understand what they went through, give support to each other and understand their mental health through that process as well.”
“We also have a service called PATH and it’s psychological advocacy towards healing……It supports people that have made very recently gone through a situation of domestic abuse or violence, but it also supports women that may have experienced it potentially 10, 15 years ago as well.”
“I got out more out of the PATH sessions than I ever did from mental health support from the NHS” said one of survivors.
3,845 survivors were in contact with the organization, seeking support to rebuild their lives following abuse.
202 women and their children were housed in a Cardiff Women’s Aid refuge.
342 children accessed specialist support due to their experiences of domestic abuse at home.
Only two-third of the women seeking emergency accommodation could be accepted due to the capacity and many of aftercare and recovery services have waiting lists in operation.
Although there are admirable efforts of Cardiff Women’s Aid in navigating these challenges to make a difference in the lives of those affected, the need for support is still pressing.
If anybody needs to phone us and they speak, CWA has full support systems available, so anybody can come to us no matter who you are.
Here is the link: https://cardiffwomensaid.org.uk/