Residents and organisations across Cheltenham have come together to raise awareness of domestic and gender violence. A 16 day day national campaign ended on Thursday which fell on World Human Right’s Day.
Huge strides have been made to enhance the public’s knowledge of domestic violence. One in three women worldwide face violence, rape, and abuse everyday, but it is not just women. Men and children also suffer from this type of abuse.
Cheltenham Borough Council have actively been involved in the campaign with a number of partners within the town including Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service (GDASS), Gloucestershire University, and Cheltenham Borough Homes.
Heather Tucker from GDASS says that the campaign has been really beneficial and has highlighted the issues of domestic violence within the entire town.
“We’ve had really good feedback. Anything that can raise awareness among professionals and members of the public; that’s brilliant.
Ms Tucker went on to say how GDASS constantly needs fundraising to help them continue their work to their highest ability.
“Where we are putting a lot of money and a lot of effort into supporting people going through domestic abuse, but we’re missing some of the preventative work and trying to prevent this happening in the first place”.
Paul Tuckey from Cheltenham Borough Homes who also attended an event in The Brewery, aimed at publicising domestic abuse one last time before the campaign came to an end, echoed the thoughts of Ms Tucker.
“I think this is a very supportive time of year. These 16 days has helped raise awareness of both the local press, local media for the council’s website, so you could say it’s a small thing but it’s all about keeping the awareness there.
