Bristol charity asks for fundraising help this Christmas
Womankind offers psychotherapy, befriending services and a helpline for women in need
Christmas is a time for giving and a Bristol charity is asking you to do just that.
Womankind offers psychotherapy, befriending services and a helpline for women in distress across the city, but it needs more funding to be able to continue its work.
A Crowdfunder campaign is aiming to raise ÂŁ10,000, so we have spoken to Laura Gallagher from the charity to find out all about it.
"The helpline offers confidential emotional support to women on any issue," she said.
"Any form of distress that they might be experiencing, they can call us up, or they can use our webchat which offers all the same support but is more accessible, and they can receive some really specialist emotional support, which is often really vital."
Demand, Laura says, has risen during the coronavirus pandemic, both in raw numbers but also in the intensity of cases.
"We have seen on the helpline how, what's happening in the environment is having an impact on women's mental health, on their wellbeing, in a variety of ways," she said.
"We're really seeing mental health deteriorating, need increasing, it's very evident that other services have been cut, people's financial situations have got worse, there's a lot of isolation.
"So it's not just the frequency and the number of calls, it's also the intensity of the need that's increased."
Issues around women's safety, which has increasingly entered the public eye in the last year, have also led to growing demand, Laura says.
"We're not a crisis service offering practical support around domestic abuse...however we have also seen that impact.
"We've had calls and particularly web chats from women who are in abusive situations and that has been exacerbated by lockdown conditions," she said.
The charity is staffed by around 30 volunteers and is open every weekday morning, three weekday afternoons and two weekday evenings.
The money from the crowdfunder will be used to cover operational costs including wages for full time staff and office rent.
As a result of the pandemic, we're told there is less public funding available.
To date the crowdfunder, which is due to end in January, has raised more than ÂŁ5,000.
On its page, which you can find here, the charity says its helpline has supported 5,285 women in the last year.
If you want to donate to the cause, follow the link above.