Suffolk

Regional Support

Suffolk

Bury St. Edmunds Refuge

A refuge that provides temporary accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

The Bury St Edmunds Refuge can…

  • Provide living accommodation for up to eight women and fifteen children. They offer temporary accommodation in a safe and supportive environment.
  • Offer a range of community services via its Domestic Abuse Outreach Centre. Such as empowerment programmes, peer support, specialist one to one support, access to counselling to help you rebuild your life after domestic abuse.

Address/Office:

Bury St Edmunds Women's Aid Centre Ltd, PO Box No. 715, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 9HQ.

Anglia Care Trust

Provides accommodation for victims of domestic abuse who are excluded from the generic refuge provision.

Anglia Care Trust can…

  • Support individuals, including males, those with substance misuse issues or severe mental health issues. Anglia care helps them to set up their new homes, maintain their tenancy and support them and their family to start again free from danger.

Address/Office:

Unit 8 The Square, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk IP5 3SL.

Waveney Domestic Violence and Abuse Forum

Provides several forums and programs for victims and survivors.

Waveney DVAF can…

  • Provides services to families impacted by domestic abuse.
  • Provide access to the Freedom Programme, a rolling 12-week course open to any women impacted by intimate partner abuse who wish to learn about the dynamics of domestic violence and abuse. (Open to women who have left the abusive relationship or those who remain living with their abusive partner)
  • Provide counselling for short and long-term purposes

Address/Office:

Waveney Domestic Violence & Abuse Forum, The Kirkley Centre, 154 London Road South, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0AZ.

Compassion

Compassion supports all victims of domestic abuse, both current and historic, providing information/ advice and a range of support services over the phone, online, and face-to-face.

Compassion can…

  • Offer access to the VOICE programme. This stands for Victims of Intimate Coercive Experience. The programme consists of 10 weekly sessions, and it supports victims to identify the broad spectrum of abusive behaviours, the process of dismantling that a victim goes through and the significant impact of such traumatic experiences.
  • Offer access to their Domestic Abuse Befriending Service: providing one-to-one support for those who are unable to access the support groups. Individuals may meet for a coffee and a chat or a weekly phone call.
  • Offer online drop-in session offered on the last Wednesday of every month at 10 am.
  • Provide free legal sessions: Sarina Bailey, Associate Solicitor at Birketts LLP runs a free legal advice clinic for the organisation’s service users.

Aluhmah

The organization offers a place of safety, in which domestic abuse victims can rediscover their self-worth and be empowered to find life much better than living with abuse.


Aluhmah can…

  • Offer Individual Counselling, support groups and signposting; Aluhmah works closely with partner agencies, to support survivors in the transition to other agencies of support to better meet their needs.
  • Offer a group meeting EVERY WEDNESDAY morning 10:00 am – 11:30 am in Brandon, British term time only.
  • Offer a creative group: a place to create, sit back, and relax, meet fortnightly, Thursday morning 10:00 am – 11:30 am. This is an ongoing group, running throughout the year.
  • Shine: over a period of 8 weeks, participants are able to engage in confidence-building exercises, relaxation, and fun activities, one evening a week.
  • Evolve: is a programme designed to help individuals build their confidence and self-esteem. It runs over a seven-week period with each session being an hour long.
  • Curve: a 10-week programme for the victims and survivors of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence. Developed specifically for those that feel they don’t fit into ‘the boxes’ of society.

Compassion

  • Services: offer resources and run programs centered around children and teens.
  • “Who’s in Charge?” is a 9-week programme combining educational and therapeutic sessions for parents of children, who are verbally or physically abusive and beyond parental control. Includes 8 structured sessions, which incorporate group exercises, discussion, and handouts. A follow-up session is held after 2 months, where family situations are reviewed and progress assessed.
  • “Escape the Trap” is a programme which has been developed in acknowledgement of the rising numbers of young people identified as being vulnerable to teenage relationship abuse. Over an 8-week period the programme addresses: young people’s expectations of relationships, relationships that make them feel bad, the behaviours and beliefs of those who treat them badly, how to identify coercive behaviour, how these behaviours make them feel and how to identify such behaviours early in a new relationship.

Bury St. Edmunds Womens Aid

  • Services: provide a call line for children as well as resources made available to them to understand what abuse is.