Coventry charity aims to provide specialist support for male domestic abuse victims
Relate is calling on as many people as possible, whether or not they have personally been subjected to abuse
A charity in Coventry is reaching out to local men to help them develop a specialist service for domestic abuse victims.
Relate, a charity that support families and relationships, is exploring the development of a new service specifically tailored to support male victims of domestic abuse.
They have created a survey to understand the preferences, requirements, and suggestions of men of all ages in Coventry.
Relate is calling on as many people as possible, whether or not they have personally been subjected to abuse, to build a comprehensive picture of what is truly needed.
The research will also allow them to secure between £250,000 and £275,000 funding and have a service up and running within the next few years.
Susan Parkes, Services Manager, says support for male victims is scarce.
She said: “Male victim services are fewer and far between or they are smaller services, which are attached to female services - which is not ideal for men to access because obviously the workers are mostly female. And the services are geared around women and women's needs. Men were looking for different types of services to women. We've done a bit of research locally with male victims and they're looking at more counselling and legal support.”
Susan continued: “We're looking to provide an outreach service and a counselling service, so that we've got that option for male victims and that they will feel that this is somewhere that they can come and talk. We'll be able to give a variance of times for people to be seen because often the men will want to be seen in the evening rather in the daytime. So, we’re hopeful that we'll succeed in funding. But we need to really understand the local picture to be able to do that, which is why we've written this survey.”
Survey Link.