Domestic Abuse, Recovering together aims to help children from the age of 7 years old recover from adverse effects of domestic abuse by working with the parent and child together to strengthen their relationship and help both talk about and recover from the impact of domestic abuse.
Impact Of Exposure To Domestic Abuse In Children
All children who are exposed to domestic abuse, regardless of their age, are at risk of being traumatised by the experience.
Exposure to such trauma can affect how children see themselves, regulate their emotions, and relate to those around them. A traumatised child may be hyper-alert to danger and unable to thrive. It is known that improving parent child relationship is critical for the child’s recovery.
What is the aim?
Through Recovering Together, we will provide families with an opportunity to rebuild their relationships and reconnect with one another.
We offer a safe and supportive space where families can express their feelings, make sense of their experiences, and begin to heal. For children, sharing with others who have faced similar challenges can reduce feelings of isolation and shame, while helping to build resilience and promote emotional well-being.
It also creates space for mothers to connect with other mothers and to engage with other families who experienced similar experiences.
The Recovering Together programme aims to:
- Improve confidence in parenting, enhance the parent-child relationship, and support open, healthy communication within the family.
- Provide a safe space for families to talk about their experiences of abuse, helping them feel heard and supported.
- Build self-esteem and emotional awareness, supporting both parents and children in managing feelings such as anger, guilt, and misplaced responsibility.
- Support families in moving forward together, strengthening their sense of connection and unity.
Equip families with practical skills to continue developing positive, nurturing relationships at home.
How does it work?
Recovering Together is a 10-week group work programme designed for families to participate in together.
The programme is delivered by facilitators fully trained by the NSPCC UK, ensuring a safe, informed, and supportive environment for all participants.
Each group session lasts two hours and accommodates a maximum of five families, creating a focused and nurturing space where everyone can feel heard, respected, and valued.
Sessions are dynamic and designed to prompt discussion, reflection, and meaningful connection between family members. Content of weekly sessions is:
- Welcome and defining domestic abuse
- Domestic abuse and its impact
- Feelings and relationships
- Exploring feelings
- Challenging emotions
- Managing loss and embracing change
- Healthy relationships
- Safety planning and safe networks
- Positive communication skills
- Endings and moving forward.
Criteria To Participate
- The programme is designed for children aged seven and above.
- It works with one parent and one child at a time, if a family has more than one child, they are welcome to participate again with another child in a future course.
- The perpetrator of DA must not be living within the family home.
What families say about the Programme?
“My child is happier now he is able to express his emotions.”
“I feel that my daughter and I have learned a lot coming here and we’ve become closer and understand each other more.”
“The experience has helped my son a great deal and was fun for him to do.”
“I finally felt like I had someone to talk to. I had all those thoughts and feelings build up over so many years, I felt like a shaken bottle of pop, ready to explode. I felt like someone was listening and taking notice of what was going on.”
