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Woman’s Trust calls on the new Government to prioritise the mental health for domestic abuse survivors  

As we welcome the new Government, Woman’s Trust is calling for them to prioritise the mental health of domestic abuse survivors in its first year.
Domestic abuse is not inevitable.  We can and must end it, so that generations of children and young women do not have to suffer the devastating and long-lasting impact on their lives. We must ensure that every woman and girl can be supported through her emotional recovery from domestic abuse and that we hold perpetrators to account.

We welcome Labour’s manifesto commitments to reforming the Mental Health Act, to create early intervention hubs in the community and provide 8,500 specially trained mental health staff in schools. We support the government’s bold and important mission to half the incidents of violence against women and girls. But if the government is serious about justice for survivors, then this must include addressing the real-life impact on their lives, including the significant impact on their mental health. We would welcome the appointment of a Mental Health Commissioner working alongside the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and Victims Commissioner.

The latest figures show that more women are believed to have taken their own lives from domestic abuse than were murdered by a partner or ex-partner. It is a direct and an invisible killer of women and we really need to do better to support survivors so they can cope with the psychological trauma caused by abuse.

We call on the new government to take immediate action in the first year and: –

• Prevent domestic abuse by delivering awareness raising campaigns and public education through schools, workplaces, statutory bodies and in the community, to change the social attitudes towards women, addressing sexism and misogyny, that leads to lack of respect and male violence against them
• Provide free specialist person-centred mental health support and counselling for every woman experiencing domestic abuse, to prevent suicides and self-harm, and allow recovery from trauma so she can rebuild her self-esteem/confidence to lead the life she chooses.
• Provide early intervention responses for every girl and young woman between 13 and 25 years old so she has access to person-centred and specialist mental health support and counselling to prevent suicides and self-harm, recover from trauma and build her self-esteem/confidence, so that she can fulfil her potential.
• Ensure every mother and child has access to mental health and therapeutic support to rebuild family relationships and recover from trauma, and break the intergenerational harm caused by domestic abuse.
• Offer mental health support for survivors going through the criminal justice process to improve engagement and justice responses, holding perpetrators to account for domestic abuse crimes through improved prosecution and conviction rates.
• Train professionals working with women and girls to understand the impact of domestic abuse on mental health and to improve their response to support survivors effectively and appropriately.
  There is nationally a lack of understanding around the long-term mental health impacts of domestic abuse on the survivor and their children.

Domestic abuse has multiple forms, and many women experience more than one type, such as emotional abuse, sexual abuse, coercive-control, economic abuse, physical abuse – often at the same time. It is repetitive and it escalates, with coercive and emotional control often much more prevalent than physical abuse. The psychological trauma that women endure has a lasting and devastating impact on their mental health and wellbeing, often leading to depression, PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Domestic abuse is the single largest cause of depression in UK women.

Women who experience domestic abuse are 3 times as likely to have suicidal thoughts (City University and Agenda Alliance, 2023) and to have made a suicide attempt in the past year, compared to those who have not experienced abuse. Sexual abuse puts victims at even greater risk of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. Women are also ten times more likely than men, to experience sexual abuse by a partner.

More women took their own lives as a result of domestic abuse than were murdered by partners or ex-partners last year (NPCC March 2024).  It is an invisible and unspoken killer of women. This is an area of research that is new, but it is starting to show the devastating impact that domestic abuse has on mental health. Our own research shows women need specialist support early on to help them manage their mental health from the trauma caused by domestic abuse. Around 40% of women come to us having suicidal thoughts and over 50% suffer from depression. Through counselling, we help them work through this trauma and support them to reclaim their mental health.
Women living in poverty are especially at risk. Around half of women (47%) who are unemployed or are unable to work due to sickness or disability, have experienced domestic abuse from a partner. Women were disproportionately affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and the current cost of living crisis, with significant impact to their mental health.

CALL TO ACTION
You can take action now and join our campaign:

• Speak to your elected Member of Parliament and local council about domestic abuse and ask them to prioritise and fully fund the mental health support of women and girls affected by it
• Sign up to our newsletter, get updates on the progress of our campaigns, and how you can join us to take action
• Share our posts on social media and raise awareness of the impact of domestic abuse on women’s and children’s mental health and devastating impact on their lives

• Donate and become a supporter of Woman’s Trust, to ensure that more women and girls can access life-saving and vital counselling support