Renfrewshire Women's Aid
Paisley, UK
Renfrewshire Women's Aid was established in 1987 in the east end of Paisley. We are a registered, incorporated charity run by women for women. We moved offices in May 2022 to Moss Street in Paisley, a more central location, where we offer information, support, advocacy and safe accommodation (where appropriate) to women, children & young people who experience domestic abuse. Domestic abuse can take many forms; it can be physical (hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, throttling), psychological (name calling, isolating from family and friends, threatening, or threatening to harm children or pets), sexual (rape, anal rape, being forced to carry out sexual acts), financial (keeping control of money, dictating household budgets, taking earnings), racial (forced marriage, female genital mutilation, honour based violence) & emotional abuse which, arguably goes with any other form of abuse. We have 19 independent flats (14 are in refuge accommodation and 5 are scatter flat accommodation) in Renfrewshire. This offers safe, confidential accommodation for women and their children if it becomes unsafe to remain in their own home as a result of domestic abuse. All of our accommodation addresses are confidential- women's address becomes c/o Renfrewshire Women's Aid office. Women are supported from the point of contact through her journey to recover from her experience of domestic abuse, whether that bed an office based support: face to face, on the phone, via email or contact through social media. Support is service user led and can be anything from a single call/appointment/drop in or a lengthier, more intense support. Whether women take the option to take up accommodation or not the service is completely confidential unless a disclosure is made that someone is at risk. Renfrewshire Women's Aid also provides information, support, and advocacy to children and young people. There are refuge-based children's workers to support children and young people living with their mum in our accommodation and an outreach worker who provides support generally in school to children and young people irrespective of whether their mum is accessing a service. We are proud to be a recipient of the food redistribution service through Neighbourly. Regular food donations from Lidl have enabled us to provide women, children, and young people with staple foods during times of crisis. We have received grants for children and young people, which has helped families. We were delighted to be part of a Toy Donation at Christmas. Customers in Lidl donated toys and other gifts that enabled us to distribute much needed help at a time which can be difficult, especially for children. For some women and their children, it has meant their first Christmas experienced without shouting, violence, and fear. We have been fortunate to be part of this scheme, reducing food waste and assisting families in need.
What we've received