Shakti Outreach Services
Women’s Outreach Service
The Women’s Outreach Service started in March 2006 with funding from the Scottish Executive’s Violence against Women Fund. The key aims of this service are:
• To provide dedicated and consistent emotional and practical support to women and their children who contact Shakti but are not yet ready to leave their abusive situation.
• To provide follow on support to women who had left the abusive situation but have chosen to return.
• To help these women and children deal with the emotional difficulties which arise from domestic abuse, and help them to build confidence and links with other agencies that offer support.
• To provide and facilitate opportunities for the woman to make an informed decision about the best way to deal with her situation.
Since its inception the Women’s Outreach Service has been consistently busy and has been able to make many achievements in line with its key aims.
All Shakti’s adult services provide one to one support for women who contact or are referred to Shakti. This starts with the initial meeting where the client’s needs are assessed and an action plan is drawn up in consultation and agreement with her. The level of support offered is dependent on the action plan and normally includes activities including accompanying women and advocating on their behalf to solicitors, housing, and other agencies.
Children and Young People’s Outreach Service
This service specifically aims to support the needs of black minority ethnic children and young people affected by domestic abuse whose mothers are not accessing the main (but who may be accessing Shakti’s Women’s Outreach Service).
Children and young people aged between 2 and 18 years old can self-refer or be referred from voluntary and statutory agencies. The CYP Outreach Service provides practical and emotional support, using individual action plans, one-to-one support and/or group work, as well as providing information on other services and activities within the area and referring or signposting if required.
The service also supports children and young people who have previously been with Shakti’s main service (i.e. with mum), providing information on local services, activities and opportunities, and access to outreach activity groups.
Fife Outreach & Capacity Building Service
Shakti now has a worker permanently based within the Fife Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership, in the Auchterderran Centre in Cardenden, Fife. The worker deals with outreach cases of black minority ethnic women and children based in Fife, providing practical and emotional support. The worker also works with FDASAP, local groups and women to look at their capacity in terms of learning about domestic abuse and accessing services.
The Outreach services have been effectively working in partnership with agencies in the voluntary and statutory sector in Edinburgh, Fife and West Lothian to be able to provide a better service to its clients.
Shakti would like to thank them for their co-operation and commitment.
The strength of these partnerships has had a huge impact on many women’s lives. A good example is the case of two women who have benefited from the close working relationship between East Fife Women’s Aid (EFWA) and Shakti. They were accommodated in an EFWA refuge where cultural awareness was provided to the staff working there.
