Children deserve to have happiness, a life free from negative experiences and memories, and to be able to make the most of their education, grasp opportunities and fulfil their potential.  

Our interventions result in:

1. Improved child/parent relationships
2. Children and young people having improved resilience, emotional wellbeing, self-esteem/self-worth and positive coping strategies
3. Children and young people having an improved sense of safety
4. Children and young people having a voice and feeling able to influence things that affect them 

An understanding of domestic abuse and of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy relationships underpins much of our work. We also raise awareness that domestic abuse is not just physical and the impact of coercive control is as, if not more, damaging. 

Children and young people are often invisible when domestic abuse is taking place and rarely have the opportunity to share their feelings, which then become bottled up.
 

How do we help?

Our therapeutic and group work programmes explore different concepts, using appropriate tools depending upon the needs and age of the children and young people. 

The children and young people’s practitioner facilitates a safe and supportive space, enabling discussions to take place for the development of strategies that help to resolve the challenges faced, for example, expressing and managing feelings of anger, hurt etc. This might be working through misunderstandings, acknowledging the impact experienced by the child and providing reassurance that nothing that happened was their fault. 

Peer support is also important as it helps children and young people feel they are not alone, reinforcing and helping them to understand that they are not to blame for what has happened. 

Work with parents, carers and the wider family takes place to help them to understand that their children and young people have suffered trauma and that the behaviours they are struggling with are not just because their child is being 'naughty' or 'difficult', but are often in response to the children and young people being unable to process their feelings and therefore regulate their emotions. We share techniques and tools they can use to help in situations where the child may have lost control or not be thinking clearly. 

Commonly, parents and carers are not aware of the impact domestic abuse has on themselves and on their relationships within the family. The majority of adults that we work with did not think that children and young people knew the extent of the domestic abuse, in most cases feelings of guilt and shame were present.
 

What impact do we have?

One parent shared how the relationship had improved when she had started to understand why her child was behaving angrily and stopped "telling him he was like his dad and punishing him, instead trying to ask him what had happened”.

Click here to read more case studies.
  

Outcome Highlights for October to December 2020

Children and young people (CYP) supported: 287

Of the Children, young people and families who completed a set of “POWeR forms” (monitoring Tool):

• 83% of parents had seen an overall improvement in their child(ren) as a result of our support.
• Over 70% of parents had observed their child/ren building their confidence as a result of our support.
• 50% of CYP said they felt better able to communicate with other people.
• 71% of parents say they felt their child/ren were less anxious.
• 60% of CYP say they felt good about the future.

Impact on children and young people following the intervention from Haven:

• 75% of CYP said they know more about where to get help, if they need it.
• 65% of CYP know more about respectful relationships.
• 73% of CYP said they know more about how to stay safe.
• 61% of CYP said using the services had a positive impact on their progress at nursery/school/college.

Impact on parents following the intervention from Haven:

• 87% of parents said the service had a positive impact on their child.
• 75% of parents said the service had a positive impact on their child's progress at nursery/school/ college.
• 88% of parents said the service had increased their child's knowledge about how to stay safe.
• 75% of parents said the service had increased their child's knowledge about how to access help or support if needed.
• 75% of parents said the service had increased their child's knowledge about respectful relationship.
• 75% of parents said the service had helped them to understand more about the impact of abuse on my child.
• 75% of parents said the service had, had a positive impact on the parent / child relationship.
    

"The children are really excited to meet you again, they enjoyed seeing you and were beaming for the rest of the day.”