We support women, together with their accompanying children, who have suffered domestic violence.

We provide crisis accommodation and support services for women and their children who are suffering or recovering from the trauma of living with domestic violence. We reject all forms of domestic violence and any attempts to justify it and are committed to campaigning against it. We believe that every woman has the right to make free and informed decisions about her future.

Why the community needs this charity

We are the only specialist domestic violence organisation in the Colchester and Tendring area providing crisis accommodation and support services. Families come primarily from the Colchester and Tendring areas. We offer outreach services through 'For Women', our Outreach Centre based in the community. In the year to March 2011 we supported 99 women and 118 children in our crisis accommodation and 705 women through our outreach services.

Results and outcomes

Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical, psychological, sexual, verbal, and financial. It is essential that women and their children are kept safe and supported to prevent them from suffering more harm. DV can seriously compromise women's resilience and coping skills and can affect parenting. Our staff provide the practical and emotional support that women will need to enable them to regain their resilience and self-confidence and to achieve their own goals.

Latest activities and projects

Computer for residents' use

The computer would be situated in refuge crisis accommodation premises with women able to book time to use it. Children would be free to use it, supervised by their mothers. Our children's workers support children with their homework projects and would use the computer as a research and learning tool. read more