We are at 700 signatures and nearly 500 received in just 1 week. Thank you!
Please continue to share our urgent petition and appeal so that we can persuade those making decisions about policy and funding that the matter of emergency funding for Vida services should be a priority.
If you are able to donate please go to: https://localgiving.org/charity/vidasheffield/
The Star article quotes: Cllr Angela Argenzio, chair of the Adult Health and Social Care Policy Committee: “Vida is one of a number of valued charities in the city that support women and provide counselling.
“We are in contact with them and have supported them in their communications with the Department of Health and Social Care regarding their funding bid, as we would be very sorry to see them close.
“As a council we support and provide funding to a number of organisations through our Domestic Abuse Strategy, including women’s refuges, the Domestic Abuse Helpline and Independent Domestic Violence Advocates.”
Vida is the specialist charity in Sheffield with a trauma-focussed approach ONLY for those women and girls surviving domestic abuse and has a unique Pathway of support fully accredited by BACP, a professional body. See here: https://vidasheffield.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Eva-Therapy-Service-Pathway-October-2022.pdf
It is so important that women are supported to find a safe place and help when they are experiencing abuse. But what happens to those women that are still experiencing the trauma of the abuse they suffered, especially when it is years later? There is no requirement for agencies to ring fence funding for that - Vida currently receives no statutory funding. Providers in the charity sector in Sheffield offering counselling and therapy, are concerned that not enough is done for long term mental health recovery following abuse, as demand currently exceeds capacity in general. The closure of Vida will worsen that situation.
At an All Party Parliamentary Enquiry about Domestic Abuse in 2022 the need to prioritise and invest in addressing long-term mental health of those impacted was noted and a report by Womens’ Aid a few months later noted that 43% of specialist services amongst their membership do not receive dedicated funding. In a report produced by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner following a survey of 4,000 survivors, 83% said they needed counselling and therapy but less than 50% could access such services.
THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO SHARE VIDA'S APPEAL & PETITION!
www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Womens-Aid-APPG-Report-Final.pdf
www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-abuse-services-struggling-due-to-inadequate-funding/
www.ncdv.org.uk/domestic-abuse-statistics-uk/
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-67489129
www.england.nhs.uk/costing-in-the-nhs/national-cost-collection/