Domestic Abuse in My Local Community: Sandhurst / Berkshire

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Domestic abuse is: “an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence, in the majority of cases by a partner or ex-partner, but also by a family member or carer.”*

It can affect any class, sexuality, relationship dynamic, ethnicity and economic background. It comes in many forms-not just physical, but emotional, psychological, financial and sexual, to name some.

I have been exploring the impact of domestic abuse in my local community of Sandhurst, and in the county of Berkshire. I contacted Bracknell Forest Council and Thames Valley Police; I await their direct responses regarding my requests (still waiting as of Jan. 2024)! So I have taken some information from their respective websites.

However, I did receive lots of information from Berkshire Women’s Aid. I think you’ll find the statistics for our local area quite shocking.

I wish to demonstrate that in ANY community, you will find someone who has been affect by, or is a Survivor of, domestic abuse. This is why we all need to have more awareness and understanding of domestic abuse, its causes and impact, and learn how to support Survivors. We must all contribute to ending domestic violence for everyone.

*Definition from Women’s Aid. For a full (legal) definition of domestic abuse, click HERE.

If you are reading this, and you are a Survivor from the Sandhurst area, and you feel comfortable doing so, please GET IN TOUCH with me. Thank you.

Berkshire Women’s Aid

Here is some of the invaluable work BWA achieved last year:

BWA continued to provide life changing support to a total of 5489 survivors and clients

Outreach services in the community supported 712 new clients. For Bracknell specifically, we supported 232 survivors via our outreach services in 2022-23.

BWA received 654 referrals for refuge accommodation and accommodated 57 women and 41 children.

For Bracknell specifically, we supported supported 32 new residents in our Bracknell refuges.

We supported 42 men and 33 LGBT+ victims.

We believe that supporting all survivors of domestic abuse and intend to grow this area of our work with the new Addison Project.

We received 4365 calls to the helpline

For Bracknell specifically, we received 562 Helpline calls from the Bracknell area.

30% of Thames Valley Police arrests were domestic abuse related*

(*Read the full article on TVP website, HERE)

Between April 2022 and March 2023, Thames Valley Police made over 31,000 arrests; 9,373 of them were domestic abuse arrests.

TVP did not respond to my request for domestic abuse statistics in the Sandhurst area; this is their “crime map” of violence and sexual offences in Sandhurst in June 2023 ALONE. They are yet to verify how many of these cases are specifically domestic abuse related, but it demonstrates a regular presence of violent crimes that occur in our community.

REACH OUT FOR HELP.

Here are some ways you can seek support for you or someone you know experiencing domestic abuse:

Berkshire Women's Aid

0808 801 0882
DASH

01753 549865
Refuge

0808 2000 247
Respect - Providing help for perpetrators

0808 802 4040

Support Sandhurst Survivors!

If you are reading this, and you are a Survivor from the Sandhurst area, and you feel comfortable doing so, please GET IN TOUCH.

Domestic abuse is ever present, even in our own community. I hope this information goes some way to raise awareness of domestic abuse in Sandhurst and Berkshire, as well as signpost local support for those who need it.