Support for Children and Young People

Housing for Women believes that no child should have to live with fear or abuse. Domestic violence has a devastating impact on children but with support, children can begin to overcome the trauma of witnessing or experiencing abuse and go on to live safe and happy lives. Housing for Women supports children and young people in our refuges through specialist support and activities.

How we help

Our Children's Support Workers help children to process trauma in a safe and secure environment. Support includes:

One-to-one key work sessions - Tailored to each child's specific needs, sessions are provided both individually and with mothers and/or siblings.
Therapeutic activities - arts and crafts, music and drama enable children to safely express their feelings and overcome trauma.
Support for mothers - Rebuilding healthy parent-child relationships and positive family time.
Group outings and activities - Allowing children time to interact with others their own age or close to their age group.

If you are worried about the effects that an abusive relationship is having on your child and you would like to access support and advice, give us a call on our confidential Referral and Advice line 020 8317 8273. You can also see below for details of agencies that can help.

Childline

Here you can get help and advice about a wide range of issues and talk to a counsellor online.

Website: www.childline.org.uk

Helpline: 0800 1111

Family Rights Group

Information for mothers whose children are involved with Children’s Services because of domestic abuse.

Website: http://www.frg.org.uk/need-help-or-advice/parents/domestic-violence-advice

Family Matters

Specialist, confidential counselling, advice and helpline service for children and adult survivors of rape and sexual assault. Service delivered at various locations in the borough.

Website: www.familymattersuk.org

Helpline: 01474 537 392

Parent Support Group

For parents/carers with adolescent children. Offers a helpline, individual counselling, weekly drop-in sessions and ‘Living with challenging behaviour’ courses. Self-referral available.

Address: 72 Blackheath Road, Greenwich SE10 8DA

Website: www.psg.org.uk

Helpline: 020 8469 0205

Email: admin@psg.org.uk

Mums’ support group @ Brookhill Children’s Centre

Treatment workers provide support to mothers who have issues with drugs or alcohol. Childcare provided to support sessions.

Phone: 020 8854 2859

Support for Young People

Domestic abuse affects adults and young people. Young people are increasingly reporting their experiences of abusive relationships. It has been found that teenage girls are more likely to experience sexual violence or feel pushed into sex when they are not ready, particularly if their partner is older than them (NSPCC, 2012).

It can be really confusing to be young and to be in an abusive relationship. But you do not need to go through this alone. There are loads of services that can help you get your confidence back, and get back to living life the way it should be; Fun, full of friends and most importantly with you in control of your body and your future.

If you or a friend of yours is not sure if they are in an unhealthy or abusive relationship you can look at our warning signs page.

To speak to someone to get support call our Referral and Advice on 020 8317 8273.

If you are using a shared computer, or simply do not want other people to see that you have visited the Housing for Women website, you may want to hide your internet viewing history.

Internet Explorer

When InPrivate Browsing is turned on, you will see this indicator in the address bar

InPrivate Browsing helps prevent Internet Explorer from storing data about your browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary Internet files, history, and other data. Toolbars and extensions are disabled by default

Browsers store some info—like your search history—to help improve your experience on the web. When you use InPrivate Browsing, info like passwords, search history, and page history is deleted once you close the tab.

To open an InPrivate Browsing session, right–select the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar, and select Start InPrivate Browsing. Or if you have already opened Internet Explorer select the Settings icon to the extreme right side of the address bar. Doing so will present a list of options, one of which reads Safety. Selecting this option presents another set of options, one of which is InPrivate Browsing. Clicking this option will open a new window allowing private browsing, and which can be closed with a single click.

Firefox

As you browse the web, Firefox remembers lots of information for you - like the sites you've visited. There may be times, however, when you don't want people with access to your computer to see this information. Private Browsing allows you to browse the Internet without saving any information about which sites and pages you’ve visited.

There are two ways to open a new Private Window.

Open a new, blank Private Window
Click the menu button and then click "New Private Window".
Open a link in a new Private Window
Right-click on any link and choose "Open Link in New Private Window" from the context menu.

Safari

When you use Private Browsing windows, Safari doesn’t save your browsing history, and it asks websites you visit not to track you.

To use Private Browsing: Choose File > New Private Window, or switch to a Safari window that’s already using Private Browsing. A window that’s using Private Browsing has a dark Smart Search field with white text.

Chrome

If you don’t want Google Chrome to save a record of what you visit and download, you can browse the web privately in Incognito mode.

The method for starting Incognito may very depening on the PC you are using. The default method in Chrome is to click on the 3 dots to the extreme right side of the address bar. Doing so will present a list of options, one of which is New Incognito Window. Clicking this option will open a new window allowing private browsing, and which can be closed with a single click.

How Incognito mode works
Incognito mode opens a new window where you can browse the Internet in private without Chrome saving the sites you visit. You can switch between an Incognito window and any regular Chrome browsing windows you have open. You'll only be in Incognito mode when you're using the Incognito window.

Others can see some information
Incognito mode only prevents Chrome from saving your site visit activity. It won't stop other sources from seeing what sites you’ve visited, including:

Your Internet service provider
Your employer (if you're using a work computer)
The websites you visit themselves

Downloads are saved to your computer
Chrome won’t save a record of the files you download in Incognito mode. However, the downloaded files will be saved to your computer’s Downloads folder, even after you close your Incognito tabs. You and anyone who uses your computer can see and open the files.

COOKIE NOTICE: Housing For Women uses cookies to store information on your computer, in order to improve your experience when using our website. One of the cookies we use is essential for parts of the site to operate and has already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site (using your browser), but parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, Read More.