Women's Centre Cornwall encourage people to seek support during 'isolating' months
Recent figures reveal an estimated 2.1 million people aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year
A charity in Cornwall are urging people to seek support if they've experienced domestic or sexual abuse.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal an estimated 2.1 million people aged 16 and over (1.4 million women and 751,000 men) experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023.
Women’s Centre Cornwall warn they’ve seen 14,700 cases of domestic violence in Cornwall in the past year.
According to the recent data, the police recorded 889,918 domestic abuse-related crimes across the UK (excluding Devon and Cornwall) in the year ending March 2023, a similar number to the previous year.
Beth Williams, spokesperson from Women’s Centre Cornwall, said: “People can reach out to us in a number of ways - whichever way feels helpful to them. Just to talk to someone who will listen to them, who will believe them, and who will offer them the support they deserve."
The charity have issued the message during their 16 days of activism to raise awareness of violence against women and girls.
They say more people feel isolated at this time of year but they continue to offer support to victims all year round.
Beth added: “Sometimes we can see the rates of instances of domestic abuse increase. We know it occurs unfortunately for women year round and particularly at this time of year, sometimes women can feel more isolated.
"Our message to women would be that they are not alone."
If you, or anyone you know, needs support with domestic abuse, you can contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
There's details about the Women Centre Cornwall and support on their website.