'Spread cheer, not fear' this Christmas says Wiltshire domestic abuse charity
FearFree is telling people they can reach out for help over the Festive period
As Christmas moves closer every day, a Wiltshire charity is telling people in abusive relationships that every day is a day you can change your life.
Domestic abuse charity FearFree is urging us to 'Spread cheer, not fear' over Christmas, which the charity says is a period where abuse can increase.
"At Christmas, and other times where patterns change, it can put extra stresses on the family," CEO Debbie Beadle said.
She added: "You may be indoors all together all the time, there's obviously the cost of Christmas and there's often things like alcohol can influence the amount of abuse or severity abuse, and that's often when we see it can escalate."
The festive period can also see perpetrators hide their behaviours, before their abuse escalates at a later date.
Debbie is urging people to reach out for help, saying every day is a chance to change your life's fortunes.
She said people often feel 'embarrassed or ashamed' that they've not come forward before, adding that it's hard to admit that a person you love is causing you harm.
"But I think at this time of the year, it does make people often reflect on what they're doing in their lives," Debbie said, adding: "It is a time where there's hope and there's joy and people can then realise that actually their life can change."
Debbie's message to people being abused is that 'you matter'.
"Everybody matters, and often when we're in situations where we're being victimised or abused, that we often don't see that and we don't realise the value of ourselves, especially if we've got children," she said.
Debbie told us that FearFree will listen and support a person in rebuilding their life free of abuse.
She also reiterated that there's help available for perpetrators of abuse too: "It's never that you have these dark, evil people.
"Often people are the way they are because of their past and another day is also a day that anybody who perpetrates abuse can change as well and challenge their behaviour and seek out support.
"We do have programmes to help people recognise their behaviour and to support them to be able to change that behaviour to hopefully have a more positive healthy relationships going forward."