About Us and Our Aims

We are a full-time charity (now Scotland wide), supporting women and young people who are experiencing/have experienced domestic abuse. Our aims:

•          To motivate, encourage and enable survivors of domestic abuse to live independently without fear of abuse, harm and coercion

•          To reduce victimisation and prevent re-victimisation

•          To provide them with the knowledge to do this

What We Do

We provide unique programmes in group settings. Our range of programme enables women to understand their abusive experiences, the traumatic impacts on every area of their life, start their recovery process, and plan their future. 

Under normal circumstances, we run groups 3x a year, with 9 groups starting in 5 towns in Fife. The programmes are 2-hours per week over 12-weeks. To meet the requests and needs of our all our Stakeholders we developed programmes for women in communities from Learning difficulties; LBTI; substance misuse; young mums; criminal justice system; young people; schools pupils. 

At the onset of COVID, we quickly moved our programmes and support services online.  Women and girls are now able to join a programme from all across Scotland. Indeed, barriers have been reduced for a significant number of women who previously stated they would not have been able, or willing, to come to a group in a town because of a range of issues, including:-

• General or social anxiety
• Depression and other mental health issues
• Physical disability
• Financial constraints 
• Distance 
• Time constraints
• Childcare issues
• Work and education commitments
• Language – it is now much easier for translators to work with women  

The programmes have been well attended and the outcomes for participants highly successful. We are working hard to ensure everyone on our waiting list can attend programmes early next year, and will return to in-person, socially distanced group as soon as we are able to.   

We now also provide weekly, virtual Drop-in cafes, which are extremely well attended. These online groups provide an informal platform for past, present, and future Freedom Programme participants to meet up for peer support, a chat and a virtual cuppa!

We provide support over the phone, text, Whatsapp or email – whatever suits each women best. 

Below is our timeline graphic, detailing our plans going forward:

Why Are We Crowdfunding?

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a critical effect on our funding. Our planned medium-long term funding strategy hinged on an application for core funds to the Equally Safe Fund, which was due to complete in June 2020 with funds allocated in September 2020 – meeting our funding needs for 3 years. 

Saje is very a strong fit for the criteria of this fund. While there is no guarantee that funding would be approved, we believe our case is compelling and we expected our request to be met sympathetically. However, as a result of the current global crisis, Equally Safe  paused their process for new applicants with no new monies available until September 2021. This delay will have a critical effect on our ability to remain open, let alone stay viable in the medium term.

We are currently on course to run out of funding in May 2021, leaving us with a 5 month gap of financial uncertainty. We would need £50,000 to sustain us through this period, to allow us to continue our crucial work in communities across Scotland. 

How Your Donations Would Help

We are frontline workers pivotal in rebuilding the health and wellbeing of women who have experienced or are still experiencing domestic abuse. COVID has only served to intensify and worsen abuse for women, by increasing the time abusers spend at home. We are a lifeline for women, supporting them with their mental health, welfare and, crucially, their safety. The learning ripples out benefiting children and extended family. 

Your donations would allow us to continue our work in helping women reclaim control of their lives.