Support services for child survivors of domestic abuse

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Camden Safety Net is Camden’s domestic abuse service. Contact the duty worker on 020 7974 2526, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
If it's not safe for you to stay in Camden, you can approach any council to get support

Support services for children

Camden Safety Net provides services to support child who are experiencing domestic abuse, or who have experienced it.

There are other organisations who can also provide support and advice to you or someone you know.

DART (Domestic Abuse Recovering Together)

DART is run by the NSPCC. It is a weekly 2 hour group that runs for 10 weeks for mothers and their children who have experienced domestic abuse. The programme will allow you to strengthen your relationship with your child within a safe and friendly environment.

The group will help you to:

understand what domestic abuse is
learn how to talk about domestic abuse
express feelings in safe ways
know you are not to blame
identify protection strategies
build confidence and self-esteem
help you explore how domestic abuse happens and how it affects children.

You will attend with your child and work together as a group for an hour at the start of the session. You will then participate in separate activities before coming back together at the end of the session.

Criteria for the programme:

children must be between 7 and 14 years old.
the perpetrator must not be living in the family home and must no longer be in a relationship with you.
the programme is designed for one mother and one child per family, but if there is more than one child in the family, they can be invited to complete the programme with the other children at a later time.

You can read an information leaflet for mothers.

You can find out more about DART and the NSPCC.

Maia and Lift Project for Girls

Maia and Lift, delivered by Advance, provides support for young women and girls who have experienced or are at risk of domestic abuse.

The project supports young women and girls aged 13 to 25 years old with mentoring and support, both through group work and one-to-one sessions. They walk alongside young women and girls to build their trust, self-identity, and confidence, and increase their skills and ability to recognise when and where to go for support.

Where appropriate, young women and girls will also be able to get employment support and advice from Working Chance, a charity supporting women with convictions to find jobs and careers, as well as mental health support from Woman’s Trust, a specialist charity providing free counselling and therapy for women who have experienced domestic abuse.

For more information on the Maia service, email [email protected] or call 0800 0590 117.

Find out more about Maia.

Victim Support Safer Spaces for Children

Safer Space+ is a specialist support service for children and young people affected by domestic abuse. The project is open to children and young people aged 5 to 18 years old who live or are educated in London.

Safer Space+ is a confidential service which can be accessed weekly for eight weeks. Various forms of help are offered including 1 to 1 support to help with:

advocacy
one-to-one emotional support
practical support
safety planning
support through the court process
confidence building
exploration of healthy and unhealthy relationships
information regarding the criminal justice system
mentoring (in partnership with Chance UK)
workshops.

For more information on Safer Spaces, you can email [email protected] or call 07930 855 043.

You can find out more about Safer Spaces.

Coram Creative Therapies for Children and Young People

Coram run both music and art therapy for young people from Camden, which takes place from the Coram site at Brunswick Square. Creative therapies can be incredibly helpful for children who have survived or are surviving domestic abuse.

Music Therapy is aimed at helping children to express their emotions non-verbally and to help them build trust through creating an open and safe space with their therapist. Children and young people referred to music therapy do not need to have any musical skills or experience.

Art Therapy can help identify new strategies for managing feelings, thoughts and behaviours at home and at school. They can build resilience in the child and encourage and support the child, their parents and teachers through the process of making positive changes. Children and young people referred to an art therapist do not need to have previous experience or skills in art.

Referral for music or art therapy should come from the young person’s class teacher or SENCO. If you feel this would be beneficial, please speak to their class teacher.

Find out more about Coram Creative Therapies.

Healing Together

Healing Together is a six-week trauma-informed programme offering six 1 to 1 sessions for children from 6 to 16 years old who have survived domestic abuse.

The programme aims to ensure children affected by domestic abuse can access early trauma-informed help. Each session has been carefully crafted, so children can learn about how their body and brain work together, their feelings, senses, and strategies they can use to help their body and brain feel safe.

Some Camden schools are trained to deliver the Healing Together programme, so please check with your child’s school if you feel this would be beneficial for them.

Find out more about Healing Together.

DVIP Children's Therapy and Support Group

The Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP) provides a specialist 1:1 child therapy service for children and young people aged 3 to 17 years old who have been affected by domestic violence.

The child or young person must currently be living in a safe and stable environment, and the perpetrator of abuse must not be residing with them. Any contact with the perpetrator must be deemed safe or supervised.

DVIP is currently not commissioned by Camden but can be spot purchased by Children Services.

You can read a leaflet about DVIP and visit the DVIP website.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHs)

The various CAMHs services in Camden can provide support for children who have survived, or are surviving, Domestic abuse. Play therapy is an integrated part of the CAMHS therapy offer, used wherever helpful to the child for example in psychotherapy (where the primary method of intervention might be play), CBT for Trauma, family therapy or parenting interventions (if the relationship between the non-abusive parent and their child has become disrupted by the effect of violence).

You can find more information and access to their self-referral form.

Camden Early Help Services

There are various Early Help services in Camden. Early help will help you and your family when things feel challenging and overwhelming. They are here to help you with what is important for you and your children and support with issues such as relationship conflict, violence in the home, concerns about your children’s health and development. Early help services include:

Sure Start provides a full range of support at your local children centre if you are pregnant or have a child under 5.
Early Help Coordinators will help you identify which Early Help service will be most useful for you.
First Stop Early Help are a team of family workers that can work alongside you for up to 12 weeks.
Families in Focus are a team of family workers who will work alongside you for 6 to 12 months.
Transformation Team are family workers who will work alongside you for 12 months plus.
Youth Early Help provides help and support for families with children over 11 years old.

To get in contact with the Early Help service, you can call 020 7974 3317 or email on [email protected]. You can read a leaflet or find out more on the Early Help website.

Women’s Aid

Women’s Aid is a national charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children. They provide various resources and safety advice on domestic abuse, including helping your children after abuse.

You can contact them on their live online chat. You can also email [email protected].

Child Line

Child Line is a confidential service that provides help to anyone under 19 years old. Their trained staff and counsellors can offer support to children and young people on various issues they may be experiencing including domestic abuse.

You can contact Child Line on 0800 1111 or create an account with them to get in contact with a counsellor.