Victoria Birch

We welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement on investment in new mental health services. Expanding access to support is an important step towards ensuring more people can get the help they need before reaching crisis.

This commitment to strengthening mental health services aligns with our #GiveSurvivorsHope campaign, which calls for women recovering from domestic abuse to have access to timely, specialist mental health support in women’s centres in the community.

For 30 years, Woman’s Trust has seen the life-changing impact that specialist, trauma-informed support can have for those affected by domestic abuse. As community mental health services continue to develop, it is important that women and girls can access therapeutic support that is tailored to their experiences, with a deep understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse and its lasting impact.

We look forward to working together with the Government and the Department of Health and Social Care as the new Mental Health Strategy is developed, sharing our expertise to help ensure women and girls can access the specialist mental health support they need to recover and rebuild their lives.

See our campaign
Read our full Mental Health Strategy consultation response

What was it about Woman’s Trust that made you want to lead the organisation? 
What really drew me to Woman’s Trust was the organisation’s very clear understanding that domestic abuse does not end when the immediate crisis ends. Too often, services quite understandably have to focus on safety, housing, legal processes or emergency response. All of that is essential, but it is not the whole story.
Woman’s Trust understands the long-term mental health impact of domestic abuse, and that recovery is not a quick intervention or a neat linear process. It is about giving women the space, time and specialist support to rebuild confidence, autonomy and a sense of future.
I was also struck by the organisation’s legacy. Woman’s Trust has been doing this work for 30 years, with real expertise, an exceptional team, and trustees who are deeply committed to the mission. The impact is already significant, but I could also see the potential to do more: to reach more women, strengthen the organisation, and influence how systems understand recovery after abuse. That combination of depth, competence and possibility was very compelling.

Throughout your career, you’ve worked across mental health, women’s support and refugee communities – what experiences have shaped the leader you are today? 
I have worked with people and communities who have often been failed by systems, or who have had to be extraordinarily resilient because systems were not built around their realities. That changes how you lead.
It has made me very practical. I believe in kindness, but not vague kindness. I believe in structures, clarity, good decisions, good governance, and teams that know what they are doing and why. People doing emotionally demanding work deserve leadership that is steady, honest and supportive – not chaotic, performative or heroic.
I have also learned that good leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about creating the conditions in which people can do their best work, challenge each other well, learn, and stay connected to purpose. I care a lot about modelling that, because the quality of leadership inside an organisation ultimately affects the quality of support people receive outside it.

What do you hope women accessing Woman’s Trust will feel when they first reach out for support? 
I hope they feel that we understand. Not that we know exactly what their experience has been, because every woman’s story is different, but that we understand the dynamics of abuse, the impact it can have on mental health, and how hard it can be to ask for help.
I would want women to feel safe, respected and not judged. I would also want them to feel that they are not entering a service that is going to tell them who to be or what recovery should look like. Our approach is person-centred: we are here, we get it, and we can walk alongside women – but the recovery process belongs to them.

In one sentence, what would you say to Woman’s Trust’s clients? 
We understand why this may feel hard, we are here with specialist support, and your recovery will always be led by you.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of Woman’s Trust? 
What excites me is the opportunity to build on a very strong foundation. Woman’s Trust already changes women’s lives through specialist counselling, therapeutic groups and workshops, and the outcomes speak very clearly to the importance of this work.
The next chapter is about strengthening what already works, reaching more women, making the organisation as effective and sustainable as possible, and using our evidence and expertise to influence wider systems. I think Woman’s Trust has a very important role to play in shifting the conversation from “how do we respond to crisis?” to “how do we support long-term recovery, safety and thriving?”
That is the work that excites me.

What do you think society still misunderstands about the impact of domestic abuse on women’s lives? 
I think society still underestimates how deeply domestic abuse affects a woman’s sense of self, safety, trust and possibility.
There is still a tendency to think about domestic abuse as a series of incidents, or to focus on the point at which someone leaves. But the psychological impact can last much longer. Coercive control, fear, isolation and emotional abuse can affect mental health, relationships, parenting, work, housing, finances – everything.
I also think we sometimes misunderstand what the word “survivor” really means. Women are not survivors because of what happened to them. They are survivors because they adapted, endured and kept going in circumstances that many people would struggle even to imagine. That takes intelligence, courage and extraordinary strength – but survival should not be the end of the story.
What Woman’s Trust understands very well is that recovery is not simply about being “out” of the abusive situation. For many women, that is when the emotional processing really begins. Specialist, trauma-informed mental health support is not an optional extra; it is central to rebuilding a life.

What’s the biggest opportunity you see right now to improve how women affected by domestic abuse are supported? 
The biggest opportunity is to stop treating domestic abuse, mental health, housing, justice, children’s services and community support as separate worlds.
Women do not experience their lives in service categories. They may be dealing with trauma, financial insecurity, housing pressure, parenting, court processes, immigration issues, work, and isolation all at the same time. We need systems that understand that complexity and work around women, rather than expecting women to navigate fragmented systems while already under immense strain.
There is also a real opportunity to invest earlier and more consistently in specialist therapeutic support. There is no acceptable number of women who are brave enough to ask for help but cannot access support because capacity is not there.

We often hear about domestic abuse in moments of crisis. What conversations do you think we’re still not having enough? 
We are still not talking enough about what happens after crisis.
We talk about leaving, reporting, emergency accommodation and immediate risk – and of course those conversations matter. But we talk much less about recovery, rebuilding confidence, parenting after trauma, returning to work, loneliness, shame, and the long period where a woman may be technically “safe” but still carrying the impact of abuse every day.
We also do not talk enough about thriving, actually. Recovery is not only about surviving. It is about women being able to imagine a life that is bigger than what happened to them. That is where long-term therapeutic work can be so powerful.

In your view, what needs to change – culturally or systemically – so women can access support earlier? 
Culturally, we need to get much better at recognising abuse before it reaches the point of visible crisis. That means understanding coercive control, emotional abuse, isolation, financial control and the slow erosion of confidence.
Systemically, we need earlier referral routes, better training for professionals, and more joined-up services. Health professionals, housing teams, schools, employers, courts and community organisations all have a role to play. But they need the knowledge and confidence to respond well.
We also need to value specialist women’s organisations properly. The voluntary sector is increasingly being asked to hold communities together, respond to trauma, build trust, and fill gaps left elsewhere. I believe we can do that work incredibly well, but it has to be recognised, funded and treated as essential infrastructure, not as a nice add-on.

Has there been anything you’ve seen in the news recently about women’s safety or inequality that has made you feel angry – and why? 
I feel angry when women’s safety is treated as a recurring headline rather than a structural issue.
Across the country, we are seeing political, economic and social pressures that are increasing inequality and making life harder for many women and families. At the same time, voluntary and community organisations are being asked to respond to more need, more complexity and more trauma.
What makes me angry is not only the harm itself, but the predictability of it. Women have told us what they need: proper mental health provision, safe spaces, specialist support, economic security, housing, legal protection, and communities that believe them early enough. Yet too often the response comes late, is fragmented, or depends on where someone lives.
Anger can be useful, though, if it is disciplined. I am interested in turning that anger into better services, better partnerships and stronger systems.

And finally, outside of work, what keeps you grounded or brings you joy? 
Strength training keeps me very grounded – it is a deeply humbling practice where there is absolutely nowhere to hide. You can either do the pull-up or you cannot.
I also love being in the water. Freediving is ironically one of the things that makes me feel most grounded, probably because it requires calm, focus and trust in your own body. It is hard to be performative underwater.
And, on a more personal note, at Woman’s Trust people tend to call me “A-li-che”, the Italian pronunciation of Alice. I like that. It reminds me that behind any job title there is still a whole person, and I think that matters in leadership too.

World Cup and domestic abuse: If his team lost, he would take it out on me

“If you walked in front of the TV, he’d swear at you. If his team lost, he’d take it out on me.”
For one domestic abuse survivor, Isla*, who was supported by Woman’s Trust, major football tournaments were not a cause for celebration but a source of dread.

As millions of fans prepare to cheer on their team at this year’s World Cup, she remembers spending match days walking on eggshells, carefully monitoring her partner’s mood and fearing what might happen if the result did not go his way.
“I would be a punching bag for anything going wrong,” she said.

Her experience reflects a troubling pattern identified by domestic abuse charities and police forces across the country. Research highlighted by Crimestoppers has found that incidents of domestic abuse increase by 38 per cent when England loses, rise by 26 per cent when they win, and remain 11 per cent higher the following day regardless of the result.

For some households, the final whistle signals far more than the end of a match.
The survivor described how football would bring out a side of her former partner that left the entire family living in fear – and all hidden behind closed doors.
“It was horrible behaviour – testosterone-fuelled. If his team lost, he would have a conversation with his mates and then take it out on me. He was aggressive; it would trigger a hateful side that wanted to get its own back.

“You’d be strangled, blindsided with a sucker punch. You would need to stay very calm because if you do pipe up to defend yourself, you’re back at square one. When the violence happens, you don’t know what’s coming next. You’re on eggshells.”

The impact extends far beyond the immediate incidents themselves. Woman’s Trust says women experiencing domestic abuse are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm and suicide attempts.
Woman’s Trust is the leading specialist mental health charity supporting women recovering from domestic abuse. For 30 years, the organisation has helped survivors deal with the devastating psychological effects of abuse long after the violence has ended.

Laura McCarthy, Psychotherapist, and a Trustee at Woman’s Trust, says: “Football tournaments do not cause domestic abuse. Perpetrators cause domestic abuse. However, for women already living with coercive control and abuse, major tournaments can be a time of heightened fear and anxiety.

“If you are worried about your safety or a partner’s behaviour, trust your instincts, stay connected to trusted friends and family members where possible, and reach out for support. Specialist organisations such as Woman’s Trust provide trauma informed support to help women recover from the psychological impact of abuse and rebuild their lives free from fear.”

Campaigners also warn that extreme emotional reactions linked to football can often be dismissed as harmless passion.
Social media videos have been posted following Arsenal’s recent successes in which women joked about making the most of their partner’s good mood by asking for gifts or favours.
While intended as light-hearted content, campaigners argue the trend reflects a wider acceptance that dramatic mood swings are simply part of football culture.

He would make us watch the game

For the survivor, football matches also became another way for her former partner to exert control over family life.
“I would try to take the kids to the park, but he wanted us to watch it with him. He wanted our son to watch and get tips on being a player. But our son didn’t want to do that either.
“He would make us sit and watch it. It was so important to him. It was him being at the forefront again, controlling.”

Domestic abuse survivors also point to increased alcohol consumption during football matches as a factor that can intensify abusive behaviour, leaving victims with heightened anxiety and fear during tournament periods.
“If he drank spirits, it would be worse. He wouldn’t know when to stop and would become aggressive. It was on a par with lockdown; the focus was just in the home. It would be intense.”

Through Woman’s Trust’s Living Without Hope campaign, it is calling for £27.5 million per year to provide specialist mental health support for survivors.
Half of the women who approach the charity for specialist mental health support after domestic abuse are turned away due to chronic underfunding – leaving vulnerable survivors at heightened risk of suicide.

Crimestoppers has launched a national campaign urging people to recognise the signs of domestic abuse and share information anonymously.
The charity is encouraging people to look out for warning signs including controlling or jealous behaviour, a partner putting someone down in front of others, visible injuries, withdrawal from family and friends, and noticeable changes in mood such as anxiety or depression.

For the survivor, the stark statistics represent lived reality.
“The whole environment was filled with anger,” she said.

*Name changed.

Woman’s Trust was featured on BBC Radio London discussing the World Cup and the impact major sporting events can have on domestic abuse.

The interview featured Woman’s Trust CEO, Alice Piller-Roner, our client Isla and the Metropolitan Police.

Listen here:

Aaron Paul – 22/06/2026 – BBC Sounds
Hear Isla and Alice at 40:28
Isla and Met Police response at 1:41:00

This article was written by Calypso Lloyd-Davies and includes additional interviews by Victoria Birch, Communications Manager at Woman’s Trust

Social Housing Bill: An essential step towards protecting survivors from housing-based abuse

Woman’s Trust welcomes the increased powers in the Social Housing Bill, bringing forward long-awaited measures designed to prevent domestic abuse perpetrators from using housing as a tool of control.
For many survivors, abuse does not stop at physical or emotional violence. Housing insecurity and the threat of homelessness are frequently used by perpetrators to trap women in abusive relationships, forcing them to choose between their safety and having a roof over their heads.
And for many survivors, abuse continues long after separation. Perpetrators may weaponise housing, tenancy arrangements, rental deposits,  financial liabilities and homelessness threats as part of ongoing coercive control, using housing systems to maintain power and force continued contact.
The constant fear of losing a home can have a profound impact on mental health, contributing to trauma responses, anxiety, hypervigilance and a sense of entrapment that can make it harder for survivors to seek safety and recover.
The proposed legislation would give social landlords and courts new powers to remove perpetrators of domestic abuse from social housing while allowing survivors and their children to remain safely in their homes. It would also prevent perpetrators from exploiting tenancy arrangements to make victims homeless and create new routes for tenancies to be transferred into a survivor’s sole name.
At Woman’s Trust, we know that safe, secure housing is often the foundation that allows survivors to begin recovering from the trauma of abuse. Safe housing is not simply a housing issue. It is a basic need and mental health issue. Recovery from trauma requires both physical and psychological safety. When housing remains uncertain, survivors can remain in a prolonged state of threat, making recovery significantly more difficult.

Hester’s story highlights why these protections matter
Hester was given a social housing property at the age of 24 after becoming homeless. When she met her former partner, he gradually established himself in the property, despite the tenancy being solely in her name.
Over the next 25 years, Hester experienced sustained domestic abuse. Throughout the relationship, her former partner repeatedly pressured her to add him to the tenancy. She resisted because she understood that doing so could weaken her housing security and make it harder to protect herself and her children.
He repeatedly used housing as a means of control, attempting to force her to change the tenancy arrangements while claiming she “had all the power”. In reality, the ongoing threat to her sense of safety and security contributed to the psychological toll of living with abuse for so many years.
Following a violent incident, the relationship eventually came to an end. Crucially, because the tenancy remained solely in her name, Hester and her children were able to stay in their home. The stability of remaining in familiar surroundings and avoiding homelessness gave her the opportunity to focus on healing and rebuilding her life.
Reflecting on that experience, Hester said: “I was lucky that I still had my home for me and my children. Without that – and specialist mental health support from Woman’s Trust – I do not believe I would have survived. I would not be here today. It allowed me to reclaim my identity and rebuild strength and stability.”

A tool of coercive control
Hester’s experience reflects a wider pattern seen by specialist domestic abuse services. Housing insecurity is frequently used as a tool of coercive control, both during and after relationships, leaving survivors trapped between ongoing abuse and the threat of homelessness. Survivors should not have to lose their homes in order to achieve safety.
The Social Housing Bill is an important step towards recognising how housing can be weaponised by perpetrators and how secure housing can support survivors’ recovery. Importantly, it recognises that housing can be weaponised as part of coercive control and that abuse does not necessarily end when a relationship ends. The proposed reforms acknowledge that victims should not have to become homeless before action can be taken and that perpetrators, not survivors, should face the consequences of their abuse.
At the same time, Hester’s experience highlights the need for continued attention to the ways perpetrators exploit housing systems to gain control. Protections for survivors whose social housing tenancies are solely in their name remain an important part of preventing abuse, preserving housing security and protecting mental wellbeing.
As the Bill progresses through Parliament, we welcome measures that strengthen those protections and help ensure that women and children can remain safely in their communities, close to their support networks, schools and work. By helping survivors stay safely housed, these reforms can also support the recovery, stability and mental health that are essential for rebuilding lives after abuse.
For women and children, remaining safely housed can mean retaining community connections, support networks, schools and access to specialist services. These are not simply practical considerations. They are often the foundations upon which recovery is built.

Mental Health Awareness Week: Mental health reform will fail survivors unless domestic abuse is recognised as a specialist trauma issue

The Government’s new strategy to transform mental health care promises expanded access to therapy, earlier intervention and more community-based support.

These reforms are welcome. But there is a critical gap at the heart of the approach: generic, one-size-fits-all mental health provision does not work for survivors of domestic abuse.

Women who experience domestic abuse are more likely to attempt suicide, self-harm and experience PTSD. The figures are stark. There are more domestic abuse-related deaths by suicide than homicide, with at least two women dying by suicide every week following domestic abuse (NPCC, 2024).

Meanwhile, one in eight women in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year ending March 2025. Eight in ten domestic abuse survivors identify long-term counselling and mental health support as their top priority need, yet only four in ten are able to access support nationally.

Survivors of domestic abuse do not present with typical forms of anxiety or depression. Their distress cannot be separated from the gender inequalities, power imbalances and ongoing trauma shaping their lives. Many are coping with coercive control, post-separation abuse, stalking, family court proceedings, housing insecurity and financial control.

Yet too often survivors are routed into short-term, protocol-driven services, such as Talking Therapies, that are not designed around the realities of coercive control and traumatic abuse. Survivors are frequently misunderstood, misdiagnosed or retraumatised within mainstream pathways.

For 30 years, Woman’s Trust has specialised exclusively in the mental health impact of domestic abuse, supporting thousands of survivors and developing specialist expertise in recovery from coercive control and gender-based trauma.

Our intersectional, trauma-informed model is designed specifically around the realities of domestic abuse and meets women where they are in their lives right now. This means recognising the ongoing impact of coercive control, power, safety, inequality and trauma, rather than treating women’s distress as isolated symptoms detached from the realities of abuse.

Our experience demonstrates that survivors achieve better engagement, safety and recovery outcomes when support is delivered by specialist practitioners with expertise in domestic abuse dynamics.

Services must also recognise how survivors’ experiences and access to support are shaped by intersecting identities including race, disability, neurodivergence, sexuality, immigration status and poverty.

If the Government is serious about transforming mental health care, it must go beyond expanding generic provision. Trauma-informed care must include specialist, gender-responsive services designed around the realities of domestic abuse, alongside clear and consistent referral pathways into them.

As mental health services are reformed, specialist domestic abuse organisations must not simply be viewed as referral partners, but as essential experts in designing trauma-informed responses for survivors. Policy reform developed without specialist domestic abuse expertise risks repeating the very gaps survivors already face within mainstream mental health provision.

Without this, survivors will continue to fall through the gaps of a system not built around the realities of abuse.

Mental Health Awareness Week: ‘If you’re still breathing, you’re stronger than you know’

Woman’s Trust was featured on ITV News at the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, outlining the impact of domestic abuse as new figures revealed a sharp rise in domestic abuse offences across London.

Former clients Natasha* and Sarah* spoke with journalist Olivia Guthrie about the support they received from the charity, which helped them rebuild their lives.

Sarah said in the report: “If you’re still breathing, you’re stronger than you know.”

Sona Barbosa, Head of Therapeutic Services at Woman’s Trust, outlined the devastating psychological impact of coercive control and other forms of violence and abuse, and called for more Government funding.

Data from the Metropolitan Police shows more than 93,000 domestic abuse offences were recorded in the capital during 2025 – around 6,000 more than the previous year. Early figures for 2026 suggest the trend is continuing, with offences already up 7.6% in the first three months of the year.

Speaking as part of ITV’s report, Sarah described the difficulties of leaving her abuser. She said: “There were cameras in every room of my house. There were recording devices in every room in my house, so I couldn’t make a phone call safely. I knew that if I didn’t leave, I was going to die.”

The feature also highlighted growing concerns from Woman’s Trust that domestic abuse is becoming increasingly complex, psychologically harmful and severe, while many women struggle to access specialist mental health support after abuse.

Woman’s Trust is calling for greater investment in trauma-informed services and wider recognition of the link between domestic abuse, poor mental health and suicide risk.

Through its Living Without Hope campaign, the charity is asking for £27.5 million per year to fund specialist mental health support.

*Names changed.

Watch the programme here

Read the Living Without Hope report
Read our Open Letter to Ministers

This Mental Health Awareness Week, the Government’s recently renewed Women’s Health Strategy rightly recognises violence against women and girls as a public health crisis with profound mental health consequences and reaffirms its ambition to halve it within a decade. It commits to expanding NHS Talking Therapies for common mental health conditions in the general population, improving referral pathways and investing in services for survivors.

But there is a critical gap at the heart of this approach: generic, one-size-fits-all mental health provision does not work for survivors of domestic abuse.

Women who experience domestic abuse are more likely to attempt suicide, self-harm, and experience PTSD. The figures are stark. There are more domestic abuse-related deaths by suicide than by homicide, with at least two women dying by suicide every week following domestic abuse (NPCC, 2024).

Meanwhile, one in eight women in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking in the year ending March 2025 (Women’s Health Strategy). Eight in ten domestic abuse survivors identify long-term counselling and mental health support as their top priority need, yet only four in ten are able to access support nationally (Domestic Abuse Commissioner, 2023).

Survivors of domestic abuse do not present with typical forms of anxiety or depression. Their distress cannot be separated from the gender inequalities, power imbalances, gender norms and expectations that shape women’s lives, experiences of abuse, and access to support.

Survivors are often coping with complex trauma, coercive control and ongoing risk. Many are also navigating post-separation abuse, stalking, family court proceedings, housing insecurity and financial control.
Yet too often they are routed into short-term, protocol-driven talking therapies that are not designed to address trauma of this nature. These approaches can individualise distress while failing to recognise the wider dynamics of power and control underpinning abuse.

Many women disengage, are judged resistant or ‘not ready’, or leave feeling disbelieved, blamed or misunderstood.

The Strategy’s focus on identification and referral is welcome, as is its commitment to trauma-informed care. Without specialist understanding of coercive control and traumatic abuse dynamics, survivors can be retraumatised by systems that minimise, misread or individualise their experiences.

Woman’s Trust is the leading mental health specialist for women recovering from domestic abuse. For 30 years, it has addressed trauma and helped rebuild lives long after the violence ends.

We see every day that recovery requires tailored, long-term support delivered by practitioners who understand the dynamics and impact of abuse. This requires practitioners trained not only in trauma, but in coercive control, post-separation abuse, risk, gendered power dynamics and the long-term psychological impact of abuse.
Services must also recognise how survivors’ experiences and access to support are shaped by intersecting identities including race, disability, neurodivergence, sexuality, immigration status and poverty.

If the Government is serious about improving women’s mental health and tackling violence against women and girls, it must go beyond expanding generic provision. Trauma-informed care cannot simply mean increasing access to standardised short-term interventions. It must include specialist, gender-responsive services designed around the realities of domestic abuse.

Specialist services improve safety, recovery, engagement and trust because survivors are more likely to feel believed, understood and appropriately supported.

The Government must invest in specialist services and ensure clear, consistent referral pathways from the NHS into them.
Without this, the promise of the Women’s Health Strategy will remain out of reach for the very women it aims to support.

Read the Living Without Hope report
Read our Open Letter to Ministers

A new national report has, for the first time, identified a suspected suicide following teenage relationship abuse, raising concerns that younger victims of abuse may be going undetected – and unsupported.

The Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides 2020–2025 report from the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls’ Year 5, documents a case in which both the victim and the suspected perpetrator were under the age of 18. This is the first time a suspected suicide linked to abuse within a teenage relationship has been formally recognised.

The finding raises concerns that younger victims of abuse may be going undetected – and unsupported. A key issue is how domestic abuse is defined in law. The statutory definition applies only to individuals aged 16 and over, meaning incidents involving those under 16 may not be recorded as domestic abuse or domestic homicide. As a result, cases involving younger teenagers risk being excluded from official data and safeguarding frameworks, making them less visible for support.

Woman’s Trust is the leading mental health specialist for women recovering from domestic abuse. For 30 years, it has addressed trauma and helped rebuild lives long after the violence ends.
Laura McCarthy, a psychotherapist and Trustee at the charity, says the inclusion of a teenage case reflects a broader and deeply concerning trend.

“Domestic abuse today is nastier than society realises and it’s affecting younger victims too. Survival shouldn’t end in suicide.”

The charity warns that abuse is becoming increasingly psychological and coercive, with younger women and girls particularly at risk. Data shows those aged 16 to 19 experience domestic abuse at twice the rate of women over 25.

As well as Woman’s Trust’s support for women of all ages, it also provides specialist workshops and 1-1 counselling sessions for young women and girls.

This is for survivors who identify as being at risk of domestic abuse, or who have previously experienced abusive or unhealthy relationships.

Suicides after domestic abuse have outstripped homicides for the third year running, according to the report.
It found 150 suspected victim suicides linked to domestic abuse in the past year and 553 over five years, highlights how often warning signs are already known. In 88 per cent of suicide cases, the abuse had previously been reported to police.

Laura highlights a lack of specialist mental health support for survivors of abuse, with policy responses focused on housing and criminal justice. However, the psychological impact – including trauma, self-harm and suicide risk – remains insufficiently addressed.

Through Woman’s Trust’s Living Without Hope campaign, it is calling for £27.5 million per year to provide specialist mental health support for domestic abuse survivors.

Half of the women who approach the charity for specialist mental health support after domestic abuse are turned away due to chronic underfunding – leaving vulnerable survivors at heightened risk of suicide.

The emergence of a teenage suicide case within the dataset underscores the urgency of closing support gaps.
Without changes to how abuse among younger people is responded to, Woman’s Trust warn that some of the most vulnerable victims may remain effectively invisible – even as the consequences become more severe.

“Domestic abuse is destroying lives and it’s changing form,” Laura says. “We can’t afford to overlook what’s happening to younger victims and keep turning survivors away.”

Read the full NCVPP report

Read the Living Without Hope report
Read our Open Letter to Ministers

The Government’s new Women’s Health Strategy, led by Wes Streeting, recognises what too many women already know: the NHS has an “appalling culture of medical misogyny.”

This acknowledgment matters. It reflects the lived reality of countless women who have felt dismissed, unheard and disrespected within healthcare settings.

We look forward to welcoming Baroness Merron to Woman’s Trust to continue the conversation.
But as the strategy was unveiled, a critical issue was missing from the room.

Attended by Woman’s Trust CEO Alice Piller-Roner, the launch made no reference to violence against women and girls and offered no meaningful focus on women’s mental health beyond trauma linked to poor healthcare experiences.

We have not yet completed a full review of the strategy and will assess it carefully. But what is already clear is this: without explicit recognition of VAWG and the mental health impact of abuse, the strategy risks failing the very women it aims to support.

The omission cannot be ignored.

Domestic abuse is not a side issue in women’s health. It is a key driver of mental ill health, self-harm, and suicide.

One in four women experience domestic abuse
One in two women seeking support from Woman’s Trust are doing so because of domestic abuse

This is not marginal. It is central to women’s health outcomes.

For 30 years, Woman’s Trust has delivered specialist mental health support to women survivors of domestic abuse. Every day, we see the long-term psychological impact of abuse – trauma that does not end when the violence stops.

Yet too many women are still unable to access the support they need:
Half of women who come to us are turned away due to lack of funding
83% of survivors say counselling is their greatest unmet need

Mainstream NHS mental health services are not designed to respond to the complex and enduring trauma caused by domestic abuse. Too often, women are left cycling through crisis services, facing repeat referrals and escalating risk, without ever receiving the specialist support that could help them recover.

We welcome Wes Streeting’s call for greater collaboration with the voluntary sector. Specialist organisations like Woman’s Trust bring decades of expertise and frontline insight and we are ready to contribute.
This must be matched with meaningful investment.

Woman’s Trust is calling on the Government to commit at least £27.5 million per year to fund specialist counselling and therapeutic support for women and girls in the community.

Because without this investment, too many women will continue to be left without help and too many lives will be lost.

The Government has recognised the problem. Now it must act on the full picture of women’s health including the devastating impact of violence and abuse.

Read the Living Without Hope report
Read our Open Letter to Ministers

This case is devastating and it underlines something that those of us at Woman’s Trust have long known: domestic abuse is not just about isolated incidents of violence, it is a sustained pattern of coercion, control and fear that can leave women feeling there is no safe way out.

At Woman’s Trust, we see every day how the cumulative impact of abuse, physical, emotional and financial, can erode a woman’s sense of self, her independence and ultimately her hope. Kimberly Milne’s death is a tragic reminder of how dangerous these dynamics can become when coercive control escalates unchecked.

One survivor supported by Woman’s Trust tells her story candidly:

“There is no escape. That is what you believe.”

Erica* is clear: suicidal thoughts did not emerge from nowhere. They were cultivated.
“He would say to me, ‘Why don’t you just kill yourself and f*** off?’ He’d tell me I was unfit to make decisions. He’d threaten to take away our passports. You feel caged.”

Coercive control, she says, is like a psychological siege. The verbal degradation sinks in. “Because somebody told me those words about what I was, it seeps into your blood.”

When the physical assaults came, they reinforced the message: this can happen again. It will happen again.
“You would rather end it yourself,” she says quietly. “Maybe that feels less paralysing than staying in that situation. There is no escape. That is what you believe.”

Research has long shown that domestic abuse is a significant risk factor for suicide among women. But Erica believes the link is still misunderstood.

Stark figures show that there are more domestic abuse deaths by suicide than by homicide, with at least 2 women’s deaths by suicide a week (NPCC, 2024). Yet there has been only one criminal conviction for manslaughter in UK legal history where a woman has died by suicide following domestic abuse, and now the first in Scotland.

“If someone considers taking their life because they can’t take the abuse, someone is doing that abuse to them,” she says. “You have to ask why they did it. There is always a back story.”

The latest conviction in Scotland is significant. It sends a clear message that perpetrators can and will be held accountable for the full consequences of their abuse, including when it drives someone to take desperate actions to escape. But justice after the incident is not enough.

What is urgently needed is earlier intervention with mental health support, greater awareness of coercive control and sustained support for survivors.

Women must be able to access specialist mental health support and domestic abuse services BEFORE they reach crisis point. No one should feel that jumping from a bridge is their only option.

Alongside 100 sector partners, Woman’s Trust has written to ministers demanding that specialist mental health support for survivors be prioritised, backed by dedicated funding of £27 million per year.

Our thoughts are with Kimberly’s loved ones. Her story must be a catalyst for change, so that other women are heard, believed and supported to live free from abuse.

*Not real name