SERVICES

Southall Black Sisters provides information, advice, advocacy, practical help, counselling and support to women and children experiencing domestic and sexual violence (including forced marriage and honour crimes). Our holistic services aim to help them escape violence and abuse and deal with a range of inter related problems such as:

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We receive telephone calls from across the UK from women experiencing violence, refuges, social services, solicitors, advice agencies and the police for general and specialist advice.

We provide advice on what immediate steps a woman can take if she and/or her children are at risk of violence. Where a woman is within our catchment area of The London Borough of Ealing we can make a follow-up appointment in the office with a caseworker if necessary. Where a woman is outside our catchment area we will refer her on to emergency services, advice agencies, refuges and if relevant a solicitor in her area. We will occasionally take on cases from outside our catchment area depending on the urgency of the situation and our resources.

We provide specialist advice on issues such as forced marriage, honour killings and immigration and asylum to advice agencies, refuges, police and the public sector who are dealing with clients who face these problems. We will consider referrals from third parties.

For more information on what to do in an emergency go to our emergency page.

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Women will initially be given an appointment with one of our three caseworkers. The caseworker will take detailed information from the client and then advise on what practical steps need to be taken to ensure the client’s immediate safety and any related issues. In the first instance we can assist women who wish to leave home by accompanying them with a police escort to gather personal belongings where appropriate. We may also help women with collecting children from school. We can help to identify emergency accommodation for the client and her family.

Where a woman wishes to stay at home we will refer her to a family solicitor to advise her on obtaining an injunction and advising her on how to stay safe until an injunction is in place. We will also accompany a woman to a police station if she wishes to report the violence. If a woman has long-term issues such as immigration, family law, welfare and housing problems or a continuing police prosecution that interlinks with the domestic violence we will usually refer her to legal advisors. We accompany clients to legal appointments and advocate on their behalf if necessary. We also accompany clients to provide support at court hearings and help them to communicate with their legal team if appropriate. We will also advocate on behalf of clients in their dealings with public and statutory sector bodies including the police, social services and homeless persons units.

Added February 2007: To register with the Home Office as an approved Domestic Violence organisation providing evidence under the Domestic Violence Immigration Rule should complete the declaration and send to: Andrew Harris, Managed Migration Strategy and Review, 11th Floor, Apollo House, Croydon CR9 3RR.

We provide support to friends and family members of women who have died in suspicious circumstances. We can advise people on contacting the police, refer them to legal advisors where the police are failing to properly investigate a death and advise on the inquest process. Where we are able to we will support existing family campaigns to highlight suspicious deaths.

Where a case raises issues of wider public interest, or where media coverage will benefit a client we will campaign on individual cases, or draw attention to a case as part of a broader campaign. See our Campaigns page for information about past and current campaigns.

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We encourage clients to lead independent lives by providing support groups and therapeutic activities which enable them to make new friends, learn life skills, overcome trauma and undertake educational and social activities. The following services are provided as part of the Mental Health Project.

One-to-One therapy: We provide one-to-one therapy for young women with a qualified psychotherapist in English, Hindi and Urdu. This service primarily targets existing clients, however we keep an emergency session available for women who require urgent therapy. We offer a minimum of 26 weekly sessions.

Group therapy: Clients who have come to the end of their one-to-one therapy will be offered a space in group therapy. Group therapy takes place once a week and is facilitated by a therapist.

Self-help group: When clients decide that they no longer need or want to take part in group therapy they are offered the opportunity to be part of a weekly self help group at the offices which is facilitated by the clients themselves.

Long residential weekends: Where funding permits we arrange two residential weekends away every year within the UK for small groups of clients who are facing isolation, depression and low self-esteem. The mental health worker and a second caseworker accompany the clients. The purpose of the weekend is to enable the women to overcome isolation, build self esteem and manage depression. We run activities such as arts and crafts classes and alternative therapy treatments during the weekend. The weekends are for clients who are already in therapy or for other clients who are vulnerable and isolated.

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Where funding and resources are available we provide the following services:

After school club: There is an after school club for clients’ children requiring help with homework once a week from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Clients should contact Southall Black Sisters to find out whether places are available and to check which day the club will be on.

Support group for clients: We run a weekly group at the offices for clients who need support. In order to support women in building their self-esteem, broaden their skills and make friends we co-ordinate activities such as arts and crafts classes, writing workshops and photography classes. Women from the group have had their writing performed by actors and presented their own writing at the Waterman’s Theatre and exhibited at the Barbican.

We provide expert reports and support letters to legal advisors on issues such as risk of gender persecution on return to Pakistan and India, domestic violence in the South Asian community, forced marriages, honour killings and suicide. We are only able to provide letters and reports for our clients. Legal advisors should contact Southall Black Sisters regarding information about fees for reports and detailed letters.

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