Home   Change Lives   Who you help   Sam, WRSAC

Sam, WRSAC

UK

Picture_5.png
 

Sam, 20, who now volunteers at The Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRSAC), experienced horrific domestic violence when she was a teenager, which stripped her of her confidence. Her partner broke her arm when he didn’t like his dinner. He then dragged her upstairs by her broken arm, poured boiling water over her belly and locked her in a room with nothing to eat and drink. This was the final straw for Sam who knew she had to get away.

Sam has slowly managed to rebuild her life and get her confidence back thanks to support from a counsellor at the Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre. She said: "It took me a long time to tell anyone exactly what I had been through. Now I know it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t deserve it, and I have managed to get here because of the fantastic support from women at this centre. We were all joined together by our negative experiences but we have built something really positive – life-long friendships."

Comic Relief and Domestic Violence

Comic Relief has funded work supporting those affected by domestic violence since the early ‘90s and we now focus on young people aged 11-21 who have directly experienced or witnessed Domestic Violence. Getting caught up in a violent relationship can happen at a young age – the projects we support regularly report seeing girls in their teens who have been abused by their partners. It’s not easy to understand why anyone would stay in such unhealthy relationships; but it’s often down to fear, isolation, and having no-one to turn to for help.

When children grow up in a violent household and witness their mother being beaten and harmed, it can start a cycle of abuse - something that Comic Relief is trying very hard to break.

The Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Cornwall

The Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRSAC) has set up the Young Women’s Network which supports young women to rebuild their lives after surviving an abusive relationship. This project helps these young women to explore what they’ve been through by using art and poetry, and gives them the chance to meet and share their experiences so that they feel less alone. The project also helps these women to think about the dynamics of a healthy relationship so they don’t go back to violent relationships in the future.

Another organisation called Tender are doing groundbreaking work around healthy relationships. Along with WRSAC, they featured in the BBC3 documentary Dangerous Love starring Danielle Lloyd, who herself experienced domestic violence. Click here to find out more about Tender's work.

Click here to see the programme repeated or to watch it again.

Find out more about our work with domestic violence

Just £2 could pay for a woman calling the National Domestic Violence Helpline to get vital support, information and a referral to a safe place if necessary - a life-line for women who are in desperate need.