The
voices of children and young people, their experiences and needs are an
integral part of the work done at Women’s Aid. We want to ensure that
approaches from services and policies consistently includes the views of
children and young people affected by domestic violence, especially during
times where external changes may have an impact on their daily lives when
dealing with domestic abuse.
Teenspeak’ is a campaign we developed that enables young people affected by
domestic abuse, including intimate partner violence, to voice their concerns
and needs to policy makers and professionals actively involved in addressing
violence against women and girls and hear their response.
We collected questions from young people who
have experienced domestic abuse from across England. The questions were used in
interviews of five leading people in education, government and criminal justice,
which were filmed by 3 young survivors and made into 5 short films with the dedicated
support from VividEcho and funding from the BBC Children In Need.
We are very excited to be launching the
Teenspeak films at the Refuge in Film festival on the 1st November
at the British Film Institute, South Bank.
The
Teenspeak series of short films
Film 1 :
Domestic Abuse- Introduction
Film 2 :
Domestic Abuse- The Law
Film 3 :
Domestic Abuse- Education
Film 4 :
Domestic Abuse- Practical Information
Film 5 : Domestic Abuse- What can we do now?
All the interviews will be placed on The Hideout, a
Women’s Aid website which helps children and young people to understand
domestic abuse and provides advice on how to take positive action if they are
experiencing it. Young people will have an opportunity to comment on the
interviews. This educational resource can also be used as an extension activity
to our Expect Respect Toolkit and Can You
See Me? DVD and educational toolkit which focuses on intimate partner violence.
We are keen to have the views of young people
about the information provided in the short films, and will be uploading then
on the Women’s
Aid Youtube where they can leave comments and questions.
We would be grateful if you could promote the
films to your networks and post them on your site!
For any further information, please contact the Women’s Aid National
Children and Young Person officer, Thienhuong Nguyen, t.nguyen@womensaid.org.uk
