A shocking personal on-video story of domestic abuse has been embedded into North Derbyshire Women’s Aid (NDWA) new website.

The seven-minute film shows *Sharon, a mother-of-two who has been helped by NDWA, talking about her personal experience.

“One day he hit me with a Hoover and stamped on my head. Blood splattered everywhere. …my youngest son was there watching … he dragged me upstairs and chucked me in the bath,” Sharon says.

She goes on to explain that the injuries from this attack meant she couldn’t go out of the house for a month, because her partner threatened to kill her if she went to a hospital to get help.

Sharon and her children have been helped back to a secure, independent life by Women’s Aid, and a range of the services the organisation offers to those affected by domestic abuse are introduced in the film and described more fully in other parts of the site.

The idea of including women’s stories on the site came, Senior Worker Advice Centre Services Jayne Reddish says, from service users themselves.

“Before designing the site we did discuss with our service users what they felt it should include,” Jayne says. “Elements such as a women’s space, people’s stories and a boost your confidence page all came from them.

“The site designers suggested the video idea and we are very pleased with it. As well as creating an interesting aspect to the site it can be used as a stand-alone film that we intend using for staff training and awareness-raising purposes.”

In addition to the features suggested by service users, the site has lots of information and advice for those affected by domestic abuse. It also includes material and information that will be useful to professionals coming into contact with those affected.

This is the first time that NDWA, which covers the areas of Chesterfield Borough, Bolsover District and North East Derbyshire District as well as accepting referrals from women outside the area who need to move to escape domestic abuse, has had a website. It has been made possible by Home Office Crime Reduction funds given through Chesterfield Community Safety Partnership.

“We had looked into a site and recognised it would be very useful, but we couldn’t afford it,” Jayne said. “We are very pleased with it, it is full of advice and information for those affected and those who might need advice on helping others in this situation, but at the same time it is friendly and cheerful.”

North Derbyshire Women’s Aid also offers services to male victims of domestic abuse through its outreach service. Research has shown that men who need help because of abuse at home often prefer to get initial advice from the internet – the new website has an email address for advice to make this even easier: help@ndwa.org.uk

The site – www.ndwa.org.uk - has a cover your tracks feature that enables those who have visited it to remove any trace that they have done so from the computer they are using.

Julie Otter, Community Safety Officer with Chesterfield Community Safety Partnership said: “We are delighted to have been able to help NDWA to have a site designed and created.

“We recognise that with access to the Internet available in places like libraries this could help a significant number of people get the advice and confidence they need to make a difference to their lives and the lives of others.”

* some names have been changed to protect identities