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The provision of specialist support and therapy for women and children from black and minority ethnic communities who have witnessed/experienced domestic violence in Leeds, UK
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The Watoto project is an extension of the service provided by the Sahara Black Women’s Refuge, a project run by Leeds Housing Concern. Sahara offers safe supported accommodation in hostel and dispersed settings to black women with children, single black women and white women with black children, all of whom are experiencing or fleeing domestic violence. Watoto was set up 2 years ago as an extension of the support provided at Sahara as a result of children/tenant questionnaires developed by students from Bradford University. These demonstrated that children/carers wanted more support that addressed the problems that resulted from their experience of witnessing/experiencing domestic violence and the associated social/emotional pressures linked with leaving communities and experiencing racism. Consequently funding was raised to employ a specialist therapist whose role is to help mothers/carers and their children understand domestic violence, how it has affected them and provide them with the appropriate tools and therapeutic services to cope with the resulting trauma and its impact. Following an in depth assessment of the families needs support is targeted to meet the specific needs of each individual woman and child through therapy sessions so that they are able to achieve full involvement in the community. The importance of this work has been highlighted in research entitled ‘In the Interests of the Child: A Study of a Black Refuge’ (Bravo, 2005, Manchester Metropolitan University). This research interviewed children, mothers and professionals about the effects of domestic violence on the relationship between women and children and indicated the need to continue extending a range of services and therapeutic support for children who had experienced/witnessed violence. In particular this service has aimed at reducing truancy/exclusion levels amongst children with this background from mainstream education, improving educational performance and access to social/health care services, reducing the number of 10-13 year olds committing crime and ensuring that children achieve the developmental stages that correspond to their age. However, whilst Leeds Housing Concern receives statutory funding for the accommodation based support at Sahara no statutory funding is available for the therapeutic work that we carry out with families in the Watoto project. We are now in a position where we need to raise funds to continue employing a therapist from September 2007 for a further 3 years.