East London Council launches new hub to support survivors of Domestic Abuse.
Last Wednesday 22 September, Barking and Dagenham Council opened a new Domestic Abuse Hub at the Barking Learning Centre, Barking.
This unique hub has been set up for survivors of domestic abuse to provide them with a safe space, giving them help and support and enabling them to run activities and events for other survivors and raise awareness of the issue of domestic abuse.
Following the Barking and Dagenham Domestic Abuse Commission, a two-year initiative that brought together experts, community, and stakeholders to understand the normalisation of domestic abuse, improve council, partner services, and provide a toolkit. The Domestic Abuse Commission report was released in March 2021.
One of the recommendations of the report was to enable survivors to set up their own support group and create safe spaces. From that arose the survivors’ group “We Rise”, who as part of their work have led on the opening of the Domestic Abuse hub and will use the invaluable space, that the Hub will provide to not only support other survivors, but also to help raise awareness of the issue of domestic abuse in the borough.
The launch event was led by representatives from the ‘We Rise’ survivor panel, who shared their stories and performed inspirational songs and spoken words. The hub was officially opened by Councillor Worby, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration and also the sponsor of the Barking and Dagenham Domestic Abuse Commission.
Councillor Worby said: “When we talked to survivors as part of the Domestic Abuse Commission, one of the points most frequently made was the huge benefit they experienced just from meeting other survivors and being introduced to community spaces which felt safe, welcoming and empowering.
“One of the key recommendations from the commission was to ensure that survivors were given this space and I am so proud that we have been able to work with the brave and inspirational women from the ‘We Rise’ survivors panel, who have spearheaded the opening of this hub.
“One of the survivors told us that by being able to connect with other survivors, “you give each other confidence and then we’re like fireworks going off into the world” and the opening of this space is testament to that, and I look forward to seeing the amazing things ‘We Rise’ can achieve by having this space, supporting other survivors of domestic abuse and tackling this issue in the borough.”
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