How do you create a whole new life after escaping an abusive household?

This question can hold mothers back from leaving, and for children it can be even harder if it is all they have known.

The NSPCC’s Domestic Abuse, Recovering Together (DART) helps women and their children recover after sometimes years of abuse.

With it, they can begin to talk and understand how they were both affected.

Lisa Strode, Swindon team manager, explained: “What mums have to do is make a really tough decision to be free of this unhealthy, risky environment.

“But it doesn't make sense to the children at the time and what DART will do is help them understand each others’ perspectives.”

Sessions take place over 10 weeks, with mothers and seven to 14-year-olds working together and separately.

Children will do activities to help them understand their feelings.

Claire Tilney, children’s services practitioner, said: “Sometimes ‘domestic abuse’ can be a new term, but often when we describe what that could look like, they’re very clear that that’s what was happening.”

Activities include the ‘feelings volcano’, in which various colours representing different feelings are put into a volcano, before it erupts.

This helps children to understand the different ways feelings can boil over when they build up.

For mothers, it is helpful to meet other women who are at different stages of recovery.

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Lisa said: “They get the feeling within themselves that, ‘oh my gosh, I can be where they are’”.

Claire added: “It provides them with hope as well, of what is something achievable for me and my children.”

Common to both groups is providing a group of people with similar experiences for victims who often end up isolated as they leave everything behind to start a new life.

“It just isn't a matter of just leaving a relationship. It's so much more than that”, explained Lisa.

“You can get one person sharing an experience and then all of a sudden you've got the room saying that happened to me too. 

“Someone's brave enough and it triggers a domino effect of feeling brave and courageous to speak up too.”

People from all parts of Wiltshire and Swindon’s society benefit. “There's no stereotypes with domestic abuse,” explained Lisa.

However, she adds: “Although it’s a huge problem, we do not get the number of referrals you would expect us to get.”

The DART team hopes more people will self-refer, so they can help create a new life for more families.

You can find out more and make a referral by emailing dartenquiries@nspcc.org.uk

Swindon is home to the NSPCC regional centre, at 5 Little London, and SN13HY and provides services from there for residents of Swindon and Wiltshire.