National Lottery funds to help tackle domestic abuse

Additional support is being made available for women and children affected by domestic abuse as the National Lottery Community Fund today announces £664k for five support organisations in Glasgow, Perth, Aberdeen, East Dunbartonshire and the Scottish Borders.

Amongst those benefiting is No Feart Community Interest Companywho will use an award of £92,193 to support women to recognise the signs of a controlling and abusive relationship whilst giving them skills, self-esteem and positive strategies to move forward.

The project will benefit around 100 women like 21-year-old Libby McPherson from Glasgow who found the courage to end an abusive, controlling relationship with an older man who tried to cut her off from family and friends.

Libby said, “He always had a way of explaining himself that made him out to be the victim in every situation. It’s so weird to look back and think what I listened to and believed, supporting the way he showed himself to the world.

“No Feart totally opened my eyes to what behaviours aren’t healthy and that in relationships, you should always, always be treated with respect.”

Welcoming the award, Lynn Smillie, Founder and Managing Company Director said, “We cannot thank The National Lottery Community Fund enough. In the last three years our previous funding has allowed us to become a key organisation in Glasgow, offering long term recovery outcomes to people who take part in our educational courses. These courses have empowered people with knowledge about abusive tactics and the abuser’s environment which have shaped their beliefs and how society enforces them.

“If anyone is unsure about their relationship please talk to us and please be assured that everything will be treated in total confidence. All the different ways to get in touch can be found on our website www.nofeart.org.”

In Aberdeen, Pathways Services Limited will use their award of £86,415 to continue running a much-needed counselling service for women, both in the city and across rural Aberdeenshire, who have experienced domestic abuse.

Malcolm Pritchard, Manager, said, “We are delighted to have secured funding from The National Lottery to help us continue to provide the only dedicated domestic abuse counselling service in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. This money will make a huge difference to women who have experienced abuse and will provide a flexible approach including either telephone or face to face counselling, which means that our service is accessible to women no matter how remote their location. This support from The National Lottery Community Fund is absolutely crucial and we welcome their ongoing support.”

The five projects tackling domestic abuse amongst 49 groups today (THURSDAY 16 JANUARY) sharing in over £5.6m funding from The National Lottery Community Fund.

Announcing today’s funding totalling, £5,602,381, The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Director, Neil Ritch, said: “It’s thanks to the generosity of National Lottery players that we are today announcing over £5 million to 49 life-changing projects across Scotland.

“Some of this funding will make a real difference to the lives of thousands of women and children across the country, from Aberdeenshire to the Scottish Borders, by providing them with vital support at a time when they need it the most.”

Last year The National Lottery Community Fund gave out over £36m of National Lottery funding to community projects across Scotland. Over 1291 projects benefited from this, enabling people and communities to bring their ideas to life. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Also receiving funding today are: -

Perthshire Women's Aid
£245,370

The group will use the funding to develop and continue an existing National Lottery funded project which provides one to one advice and support to women in rural communities across Perth & Kinross who have experienced domestic abuse. The project will help women in immediate crisis situations as well as providing longer term support

East Dunbartonshire Women's Aid SCIO
£150k

This group will run a two-year project in Milngavie and Bearsden, supporting women survivors of domestic abuse. This becoming a survivor project will include two paid members of staff.

Border Women's Aid Ltd
£90,226

This group will use the funding to expand support in the community from four-weeks of post-refuge support to a full year, it will also allow some support at weekends. The expanded service will include supporting women to make connections with groups and services in their new community.