All Gender Domestic Abuse Peer Support Group

To join please email [email protected] or phone 01823 334906 and ask for a member of the Bridging the Gap Team.

Every other Wednesday – Midday to 1.30pm

A peer support group for both male and female survivors of domestic violence.

Within the group, we aim to build the clients self-esteem, self-worth and give them the tools to be able to recognise first signs. Freeing yourself from violence means breaking the cycle, so we aim to give as much support and guidance to the clients as possible, so they do not find themselves in a similar relationship to the one, in which they were abused.  We aim to do this by setting activities for each three weekly session on different topics.  This will be a rolling support group so that people can start at any time and not miss any of the topics.

A few examples of the things we will cover are:

• Your rights and impact of abuse 
  (what is abuse? The cycle of abuse, your bill of rights)
• Healthy and unhealthy patterns 
  (how to recognise and change unhealthy patterns, boundaries, domestic violence a continuum)
• About your feelings 
  (guilt, responsibility, sadness, grief, understanding anger, taking action)
• Assertiveness 
  (what stops us being assertive? Trusting yourself to be assertive, assertiveness techniques)
• Setting realistic goals 
  (how to set realistic goals, achieving your goals, I need – I want- I deserve)
• Healthy relationships 
  (how healthy relationships begin and what they feel like? Conflict, problems and disagreements, acceptable behaviours)

There are no crèche facilities available.