More safe spaces being created to help victims of domestic abuse in North Yorkshire
Local businesses are signing up to provide a safe area for victims to call a helpline, speak to family and talk to friends.
A new scheme to help provide more safety and support to victims of domestic abuse in North Yorkshire has been launched.
Started by the domestic abuse charity Hestia and its UK SAYS NO MORE campaign, the scheme will enable more victims to find help on their local high street especially as lockdown restrictions ease across the UK.
Victims will now be able to access a Safe Space in 290 TSB branches across the UK to seek specialist support and advice, as they become the first bank to sign up to the scheme in response to the desperate situation many people are facing.
Carmel Offord is the communications and engagement lead for IDAS, which provides refuges for people in York, Harrogate and Scarborough: "I think it's excellent that businesses, community groups and organisations are taking notice of the things they can do to make it easier for people who are affected to seek support.
"Anything that can raise awareness and give more opportunities to reach out is welcome. It really does need that community response, particularly during lockdowns where people have been trapped with abusive partners with no respite or relief.
There isn't a TSB branch based in Harrogate, meaning that anyone based there will have to travel to York or Keighley. Carmel says increasing access is vital: "There's always going to be places where people might want to seek support and it's not obvious. Our Champion scheme gives people an opportunity wherever they work to become more domestic abuse aware, and to make sure anyone seeking support can do so.
"Whilst these schemes will always have their limitations, it's important to know that we can take small individual actions that will make a difference to anyone who has been subjected to domestic abuse; we don't have to be part of a big national scheme.
"We've been forced to think more out of the box, because of the pandemic, about how we can use any opportunity to get out of the house to provide safe platforms for people.
"The talk around domestic abuse has made people think 'what would it be like to be trapped in my home with a partner who intends to cause me harm?' I think it's shifted people's focus to think where can find those opportunities to seek support".
More information on the IDAS Champion scheme can be found here.