WITH Red Nose Day around the corner sometimes it’s nice to know where our donations go and whether they help people in our local community.

The Young Survivors Project, run by Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon, is one such project which has been funded by Comic Relief and the donations you make on Red Nose Day.

The project has enabled Relate to offer free counselling to 11-25 year olds from Gloucestershire and Swindon who have witnessed and/or experienced domestic abuse either from their parents or from their own first relationships.

Kimberley Wall, Service Development Manager, says “it is imperative that specialist services are offered to survivors of domestic abuse otherwise victims may unknowingly become involved in another abusive relationship due to not understanding the dynamics of abuse.

Before Comic Relief funded the Young Survivors Project our local area simply did not offer this one-to-one therapeutic service which has now helped many young people talk about and move on from their trauma”.

The project has been particularly successful in that, of the young people who completed their counselling in the first year; 80 per cent displayed higher levels of self esteem and 100 per cent reported feeling better able to cope.

This has resulted, on occasion, in tangible changes such as a client applying for college and a client managing to stop self-harming.

If you are interested in accessing these services (waiting lists can apply) then please contact Relate on 01242 523215.

In order to qualify for the service, you must no longer have any contact with the perpetrator nor be involved in an on-going court case which involves the abuser (for client’s own safety).

In these instances, or if you want support in regards to an existing domestic abuse situation, please contact GDASS (Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service) on 0845 602 9035, Swindon Women’s Aid on 01793 610 610 or the National Domestic Abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247 ensuring it is safe to do so (in an emergency always call 999).