We're still collecting donations
On the 7th June 2023 we'd raised £60 with 2 supporters in 56 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Our aim is to improve the knowledge of young adults about coercive control and emotional abuse through immersive performance.
by Claire Beesley in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
On the 7th June 2023 we'd raised £60 with 2 supporters in 56 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Who Are We?
I'm Claire, the founder of We Stand. I set this up with three other incredible women, Becky, Kirsty, and Emma in 2023 with the aim of ending abuse through educating young adults through immersive performance.
I've worked in the charity sector for nearly two decades and run businesses for even longer, so use my knowledge to keep things moving, translating my vision into action. Becky is an ex-educator who owns a theatre company. Kirsty is an ex-educator who now runs an organisation in the mental health space, working with schools and young people. Emma is a psychologist with a special interest in Neurodivergence and the vulnerabilities relating to abuse.
Why Abuse?
A couple of years ago I wrote a novel about emotional abuse and coercive control. I wanted to raise awareness of this important topic as a survivor of domestic abuse as a young adult.
I am sickened by the ongoing storyline in the news of more people being abused, bullied, coerced, beaten and murdered by their partners. This is becoming more of an issue, not less. In our romantic relationships, in families, at work, in school. People are abusing their power over others and it has got to stop.
Why Are We Different?
The difference with what we are doing is working with young people before they get entrenched in long term relationships. To tackle the underlying values, beliefs and conditioning that has led us as a society into believing that it's okay to hurt other people. Hiding behind saying that bullying and emotional abuse isn't that bad.
What the Research Says.
Actually, research from the last 10 years has shown that this is the worst kind of torment. It's insidious, hard to spot, almost impossible to get away from, and millions of people in the UK are targets of this kind of abuse every year, with 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men experiencing abuse in their lifetimes. https://whag.info/about-our-work/about-domestic-abuse/domestic-abuse-facts-and-statistics/
Emotional abuse, bullying and coercive control do not follow demographics. It doesn't matter where you live, what you do for a living, how rich or poor you are. Your skin colour doesn't make you immune. Neither does your bank balance. Even your gender isn't a barrier.
Who's Most At Risk?
There are people who are more at risk than other groups. One of them is young adults, particularly women, those who identify as being neurodivergent, or have a disability.
So this is why we are focusing our immersive performance on young people. We want to help them have more healthy, balanced and respectful relationships.
How Will Our Project Work?
The first half of 2023 is all about research and development. We are getting out there, talking to young people in sixth forms, colleges, universities, at work, in apprenticeships, online. We are also doing additional training ourselves.
Once we have established our baseline knowledge, we will start to craft our performance. This will be tested with small groups to see how it lands. We have ideas to bring them into the process, helping us shape the performance.
The second half of the year is running some immersive performances, doing more testing, and evaluating the success of our work. Then we will be ready to take this wider in 2024/25, and look at creating film.
The immersive performances allow the audience to become part of the performance. Then have the opportunity to engage with the cast afterwards to discuss the topic in depth. This is a proven method for increasing understanding and allowing that learning to be retained.
This project offered rewards