Safe Browsing
Domestic abuse and sexual violence impact people in every corner of the country. Services that offer support to individuals, no matter how big or how small, are incredibly vital as part of our mission to end domestic abuse and sexual violence together. As a national campaign, we strive to connect with every available support service – be this by ensuring their contact details are available in Hestia’s Bright Sky app, or through becoming a partner of our campaign and sharing resources and information.
We’re pleased to announce our latest partnership with Catch22 & Victim First.
In their own words…
Hello! I’m Manjeeta Sunnar, I’m the Head of Service for Victim First. We are a support service for victims and witnesses of crime across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, and are delivered by Catch22. I’m very excited to announce that Catch22 Victim Services have joined UK SAYS NO MORE as a partner and champion for raising awareness to end Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence across the UK.
At Catch22, our vision is simple. Everyone should have a good place to live, a purpose and good people around them.
Our services seek to unite and strengthen a diverse community by building resilience and aspiration in people and communities. Catch22 have experience delivering a range of victim services and broader work including child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, substance misuse and services supporting gang exit. We use this experience and our specialisms in restorative justice and outreach to inform the development of our victim services. Our victim services are co-designed with commissioners, partner agencies and with service users. We strive to make sure our services not only to meet the needs of victims and witnesses, but to also actively challenge the myths and misconceptions that many victims face.
“…the support I’ve had since contacting Victim First has been phenomenal, mainly down to you listening to me and caring, understanding what I’ve been going through and contacting other bodies to help me. I thank you for it as it has made the world of difference. It enabled me to be able talk about it rather than it constantly playing through my head without telling anybody, and it has made such a difference… You and your services have been of utmost importance and help to me and I have much to thank you and your team for.” – Service User of Victim First, Leicester
My team at Victim First are passionate about raising awareness of domestic violence and sexual violence, in particular to challenge the myths and misconceptions around these issues. So this year, each team member wrote their own pledge focused on the theme #WhatICanDo.
Our staff are highlighting issues surrounding sexual abuse and domestic abuse through raising awareness and training #WhatICanDo #uksaysnomore pic.twitter.com/SnWrANAUuX
— Victim First (@Victim1st) May 22, 2018
I posted a vlog on our social media platform to help kick-start the week, followed by numerous boomerangs, videos and pictures with statistics and myth busters throughout the week. By doing this we’re not only helping to educate our followers, we’re also showing potential victims that we understand what they’re facing and how we can help.
We’re supporting #UKSAYSNOMORE to raise awareness of issues surrounding domestic and sexual abuse in the UK. Our head of service @ManjeetaSunnar speaks more about this in our blog #whaticando pic.twitter.com/c0jgvY9s9a
— Victim First (@Victim1st) May 21, 2018
UK SAYS NO MORE is a powerful campaign that provides our service users and our colleagues with a platform to raise their voices and take an active stand against domestic abuse and sexual violence. It’s so important to take a stand and play our part to educate people and communities, raise awareness and support victims to empower them. We are proud to join the UK SAYS NO MORE campaign.
We’re getting rid of the myth culture around sexual abuse and domestic abuse #WhatICanDo #UKSAYSNOMORE pic.twitter.com/YWZyC7b3ub
— Victim First (@Victim1st) May 23, 2018
We believe that there is strength in the voices of victims and witnesses, and if services and campaigns stand together the greater the impact will be in bringing about change. For this reason all of Catch22’s victim services are coming together to support UK SAYS NO MORE. We’ll be continuing to raise the profile of the campaign, and the people who need our support, across the organisation and beyond. By joining our voices together we can help make sure that the message reaches everyone who truly needs to hear it, and seeks the support they need and deserve.
The Victim First Team
Catch22 Victim Services include:
• Leicestershire Victim First provide emotional and practical support and information for victims of crime and anti-social behaviour in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
• Nottinghamshire Victim CARE are a free and confidential service available to all victims of crime and anti-social behaviour across Nottingham.
• Hertfordshire BEACON are focused to help victims cope and recover from their ordeal. Our team of dedicated and trained professionals will support you every step of the way.
• Halton Domestic Abuse Family Service (DAFS) is a specialist solution focused service dedicated in providing interventions to children and families affected by domestic violence.
• Restore:London are the first ever Pan London Restorative Justice Service to ensure that victims are able to access consistently high quality restorative justices at every stage of the criminal justice system.
• Pan Merseyside Child Exploitation Service works with young people under 18-years old across Merseyside who are experiencing or are at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE), child criminal exploitation (CCE), gangs and trafficking, through both one to one and group work
• Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire CSE and Missing Service support children and young people in unhealthy relationships, victims of child sexual exploitation and children missing from home.
• Mediation Service- Suffolk, Norfolk and North Essex offers a range of mediation approaches for resolving conflict and building relationships in a no-blame, neutral and future-focused manner, within a confidential environment.
You can find our more about Catch22 here, or follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
Find out more about Victim First here or follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
Interested in becoming a partner?
Are you or your organisation interested in becoming a partner of the UK SAYS NO MORE campaign? We want to hear from you! Email Partnerships Manager Sarah Winterflood at [email protected] for more information.
