Charity urging abusers to reach out for support
‘BREAKING CYCLE OF VIOLENCE NEEDS BOTH PARTIES’
A HUDDERSFIELD-BASED charity is urging perpetrators of domestic abuse to seek support via a new telephone helpline.
The innovative project - believed to be the first in England to be based locally - launched last month.
But staff at the Yorkshire Children’s Centre (YCC) say the take-up in the first few weeks has been low.
The YCC, which is based at Brian Jackson House in Huddersfield, says West Yorkshire Police reported a 6.2% increase in call-outs to domestic incidents within the area during lockdown.
Victim support services and helplines also saw an increase in demand.
Believing that a blend of victim and perpetrator support is needed to stop what it calls “the cycle of abuse” the YCC set up the dedicated domestic abuse perpetrator helpline to operate during lockdown for the Kirklees community.
It was backed by almost £6,000 of funding from the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson and is scheduled to run for three months.
“We believe that to break that cycle of abuse involves working with both parties - victims and perpetrators,” said the YCC’s contract manager for specialist family services, Catherine McKenzie.
“We work with the perpetrator and support the victim at the same time.
“It’s a really big issue. With many of the men that come to us we can see there has been a pattern of abuse.
“We work with them in our domestic abuse prevention programme as a form of intervention, and it can be intense.