Atlas Women's Centre in Lisburn receives funding for domestic abuse awareness programme

The grant allows Atlas Women’s Centre to deliver a programme which raises awareness and support regarding domestic abuse within the community.

The programme, funded by the Policing and Community Safety Partnership and held in conjunction with Lisburn City and Castlereagh Council, helps to highlight what exactly constitutes domestic abuse and is extremely popular amongst the local women centre’s service users.

"It is really well attended every year,” reveals Gay Sherry-Bingham, Centre Manager of Atlas Women’s Centre.

"We will put the details on our website and our social media,” Gay explains. “And everyone who is interested is encouraged to ring us ahead of time and we will get them booked onto the programme.

"This year’s programme is called Healthy Relationships at Home and Communities, and works with women of all different ages.”

The programme is designed to educated women to the warning signs of domestic abuse and the red flags to be aware of in a relationship.

"We realised when working with women through our mental health programmes, that there were so many who didn’t actually realise what a healthy relationship was,” Gay explains.

"The great thing about this course is it really outlines what is domestic abuse within the community and inside the home, as well as the risks to the children and the family.

"The programme explores healthy relationships, unhealthy relationships, what is safe, what is unsafe and discusses healthy boundaries.

"It was one of our qualified counsellors who takes one of our young women’s mental health programmes who identified the need to deliver to young women how to identify green flags and red flags.

"It is a great programme and targets women only in a safe environment and we provide creche for the children, so we have removed all of the barriers. It is accessible and will be run at a time that suits the women, it will be free of charge, childcare is provided and there will be light refreshments with tea and coffee,” Gay adds.

"This programme is all about improving confidence, improving understanding and knowledge and women learning together.”

Atlas Women’s Centre runs a series of programmes, ranging from special catered Confidences Courses with a focus on: Personal development; Life skills; Mindfulness and energy and Parenting for life. It also runs a wide range of classes and programmes, some of which can even be attended by the whole family, whilst others are women-only. Activities include Family Cooking and Gardening Workshops; Arts and Crafts; Drama Workshops for the whole family; Crochet; Beginners Mosaic Art Workshop; Incredible Years Parenting Information Session; Women’s Empowerment; Self Care Workshops and a lot more.

To find out more about the programmes on offer at Atlas Women’s Centre, visit: http://www.atlaswomenscentre.co.uk/new-new-new/whats-on/ with the schedule regularly updated to include new events and programmes.

Participants are welcome to attend the programmes listed online. To sign up contact: 028 92605806 to discuss ahead of time.