The project & how we'll spend the money: With the lockdown we're experiencing an increased level of demand for our charity. We are expanding our service and having more specialist counsellors so we can support more children and young people in their recovery from the trauma of domestic abuse (either being witnesses or victims). 12.6% of girls and 6.6% of boys ages 16-19 say they have experienced abuse in their lifetimes so there are lots of people we want to help.

There is strong research to suggest that children who have grown up experiencing domestic abuse are 6 times more likely to find themselves in an abusive relationship as an adult - we want to stop that happening. We'll be offering a mix of play therapy amongst other techniques; the children will learn that what happened within their family is not their fault, and we can work with the traumatic images they hold and help them to reframe them and build healthy pathways in the brain that help the child to feel safe in their environments and that their awareness of perpetrator behaviours is raised preventing them from finding themselves in abusive relationships in the future.

Who we are: We are Living Without Abuse, a domestic abuse and sexual violence charity that covers Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland. We support all genders & ages but we specialise in helping children and young people.

What we do: We are a team of workers and volunteers who put their all into helping those in need, we help around 2,000 people a year currently. We provide a range of services, including supporting people in leaving domestic abuse situations (including the practical issues such as legal, housing etc); helping with the recovery process by providing 1-2-1  or group support; working with children, young people and families to rebuild relationships after abuse; working with perpetrators of abuse who want to change their behaviour.