TalkRadio - Educating yourself out of abuse

It’s the final episode of Undiscussable of this 8 part special series for TalkRadio.

We’ve covered so many different themes within domestic abuse and family trauma, and shown how important it is we speak about it with inclusivity. It’s a pattern of behaviour to gain control over another. It is sadly far more common than we care to admit and still very much seen as a bit too close to home and uncomfortable to talk about because frankly it’s to do with family and personal relationships it’s embroiled in the confusion of what we believe is a loved one or someone that is supposed to take care of us, causing the harm.

There is so much more to delve into but I hope it’s shown why opening up this forum is essential for our community and for our children. Breaking the cycle is the only way the future generations will look back and ask ‘what was domestic abuse?’ - and to break the cycle it’s all about education.

The final incredible individual I’d like to introduce you too is Shana. She spent her young life in domestic abuse as the day to day norm and then right through adulthood until just 2 years ago. It’s far more than the abuse that happened to her though that kept her in it, it was the fact she was never taught to understand what it actually was or the fact that her being a victim of it wasn’t something that was wrong with her and she had to be a certain way because of this but something that happened to her.

Thank you Shana for sharing your story with us.

Joining us is Vishali Ravalia and Aaron Hill, both senior project workers at The Phoenix Project, a Barnardo's initiative that works directly with children and young people to minimise the impact of conflict on their emotional health and well-being. The project takes a restorative approach to build stronger family relationships. And moves away from the traditional labels of victim and perpetrator.

If you can relate to anything we've talked about please know that people understand and can support you through.

Please check out www.barnardos.org.uk

napac.org.uk - who have some very helpful resources for adult survivors of child abuse of any form.

And www.safelives.org.uk who have a wealth of resources to find the right help for you.

You can also contact me via twitter or instagram

Thank you for listening.

Undiscussable is supported by the Audio Content Fund and backed by TalkRadio.