16 Days of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – West Dunbartonshire

Posted on November 19, 2009
Filed Under 16 Days 2009 2008, Scotland, Violence Against Women, Women's Event, Women's Group | Comments Off

25th November – 10 December 2009 Programme of Events

Event: Special Presentation to West Dunbartonshire Domestic Abuse Link Network.
Date: 25th November

Open Secret is a Scottish charity (SC 024065) that operates in the Forth Valley. The agency have office bases in Falkirk, Stirling and Alloa and offer the following:
* A free confidential service to survivors of childhood sexual abuse
* Support to partners and friends
* Support to other workers and organisations working with sexual abuse issues
* Support for non abusing parents of children who have been sexually abused.

West Dunbartonshire are very proud to host a presentation to the Link Network on the issues of – Supporting women affected by childhood sexual abuse in the Criminal Justice System.

Through their work with women in Carton Vale, Open Secret will discuss with the Link Network the complex support needs of women affected by Childhood Sexual Abuse and the links with other forms of violence. Using a therapeutic approach when working with women can provide an opportunity for women to explore and address the impact of abuse on their lives.

Venue: Clydebank Town Hall
Time: 10am – 12.30
Basic lunch provided

Open to all agencies and public

Event: BASIC AWARENESS TRAINING – The effects of domestic abuse on children and young people
Date: 26th November & 3rd December 09

West Dunbartonshire Violence Against Women Training Group provide basic awareness training to any agency in the local area that work women and children.

The training is set at basic awareness level and is designed as an induction course on the issues around of domestic abuse, its impact on women and children and exploration of the realty and myths for those experiencing domestic abuse whilst raising agency knowledge of local support services available.

Free & open to all WDC employees & other agencies

Booking is essential and places can be booked by contacting:
Tel: 01389 738680
Email: carol.young@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

Venue: Dalmuir CE Centre
Time: 12.30 – 4.30pm

Event: Sole Purpose Productions: Don’t Say a Word by Patricia Byrne
Date: 26th November 09

Pauline has most definitely met the perfect man – or has she? What happens when ‘happy ever after’ becomes a nightmare?

This one-woman show by Patricia Byrne, directed by Shauna Kelpie, depicting a situation of domestic violence has successfully toured throughout Ireland. ‘…funny, heartbreaking, compelling.’ Belfast Newsletter.

Don¹t Say A Word, written and performed by Patricia Byrne, is a powerful and insightful one-woman play, which depicts a situation of domestic violence. The play was nominated for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2008. Patricia Byrne has also recently been nominated for the Emma Humphries Memorial Prize. This annual prize is awarded to an individual woman, who has, through writing or campaigning, raised awareness of violence towards women and children. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on November 21st.

Dumbarton District Women’s Aid (DDWA) will host the production alongside a collection of art and poetry created by women and their children living in refuge.

DDWA hope to provide a thought provoking and uplifting event that looks at the strength and courage of women and children and the impact leaving an abusive relationship has had on their lives and the lives of their children.

Venue: Dumbarton District Women’s Aid Refuge
Time: 3pm

This event is by invitation only

Event: ‘Where’s the harm?’ – Exploring the links between commercial sexual exploitation and violence against women
Date: 27th November 09

The conference is being organised and funded by The Clyde Violence Against Women Training Consortium, a partnership between Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire Violence Against Women Multi-Agency Violence Against Women Partnership. And is aimed at policy makers, managers, elected members and front-line workers supporting women and young people from the statutory and voluntary sectors from the three respective areas.

The aims of the conference are to
* To raise awareness of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE)
* To define CSE as a form of violence against women
* To raise awareness of the impact of CSE on women, children and young people on attitudes to gender and sexuality
* Highlight the work to be done to address the issues arising from CSE and the needs of those affected

Venue: Reid MacEwan Training & Conference Centre, Erskine Hospital
Time: 9am – 1.30pm
NB This event is by invitation only.

Event: ‘Play for Peace’ day‘
Date: 28th November 09

Organised by Clydebank Women’s Aid. The group are an all woman local Women’s Aid collective based in Clydebank. We are a confidential organisation which provides information, support and refuge for women, children & young people who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse. Services we provide include:
* Confidential Information & Support Service
* Benefit information
* Support
* Housing Rights
* Legal Information
* Accommodation
* Advocacy

The ‘Play for Peace’ Day has been organised as an event to bring women of all ages together with their children to have fun through a mix of traditional and modern street games.

Venue: Abbotsford Church, Clydebank.
Time: to be confirmed
For further information please contact: CWA – 0141 952 8118

Event: The SILK Group presents ‘A gud cause maks [sic] a strong arm’
Date: 2nd December

The Silk Group (Survivors, Independence, Legislative and Knowledge) Group

The SILK Group was established in September 2006 by survivors of domestic abuse and supported by the CARA Project (Challenging and Responding to Abuse). The CARA Project is attached to West Dunbartonshire Violence Against Women Partnership.

The SILK Group’s aims are:
* To promote the safety and well-being of women who have experienced domestic abuse
* To campaign for improved criminal justice services
* To raise self-awareness of domestic abuse (and other forms of violence against women) within the community
* To promote positive mental health, impacting on positive parenting

As part of the groups continued commitment to raising awareness of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women the group took part in a re-enactment of the original 1909 “Gude Cause march” when hundreds of women marched down Princes Street in Edinburgh to demand voting rights for women. To coincide with this event the SILK Group invited Anni Donaldson of the West Dunbartonshire Violence Against Partnership to give an historical perspective on the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Scotland.

Venue: Dalmuir Library
Time: 7pm

This is a women only event and is free and open to members of the public.

Event: WDC Lectures @ Lunch – Coming of age in a Porn culture
Date: 8th December 09

WDC Quality Assurance & Training continually strive to develop an ‘In-house’ Training Programme that covers diverse range of training that is current, topical and relevant to the workforce of West Dunbartonshire Council.

The Team are pleased to host the above training Linda Thompson from Glasgow Women’s Support Project.

Linda is Glasgow Women Support Project’s CSE Development Worker, her post is unique to Scotland and funded through the Scottish Governments Violence Against Women Fund. The role of the development worker includes delivering Multi-Agency Partnership Training to statutory and voluntary organisations on the issue of Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

This awareness raising sessions is aimed at agencies working with and supporting children and young people. The session is designed to facilitate discussion around the role pornography and the porn industry plays in changing and shaping our mainstream culture to a more pornified and sexualised one.

It will also make connections between the changes in our culture and the pressure on young men and women to display more sexually explicit behaviours, both personally and online. The session will also raise the point that increasingly our culture “grooms’ younger people, especially young women, for sexual exploitation.

Time: 12 noon – 2pm
Venue: To be confirmed

Open to all WDC Employees however booking is essential: Contact: Quality Assurance and Training direct. Tel: 01389 772197

Event: The Reduce Abuse Project, Dumbarton District Women’s Aid and Dumbarton Academy – Present: A Triptych of Teen Gender Impression
Date: 25th November – 10th December 09

The Reduce Abuse (RA) Project was established in 2005 and is a domestic abuse and violence against women prevention project for children and young people in West Dunbartonshire. The project undertakes domestic abuse and sexual bullying prevention work with pupils in primary and secondary schools in WD in line with the Scottish Government’s National Domestic Abuse Prevention Strategy and the National Domestic Abuse Children’s Delivery Plan.
Project Aims:
* To prevent domestic abuse and violence against women by raising awareness of the issues with children and young people and those working with children and young people (CYP)
* To prevent abusive behaviour through challenging CYP’s attitudes and beliefs and encouraging alternative coping strategies
* To improve outcomes for CYP affected by domestic abuse by ensuring information on local support services is made available

This event has been organised to raise awareness of the ‘16 Days of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’ and actively engage with young people to talk about what the 16 Days means to them and how to interpret their thoughts and feelings into a media that other children can identify with.

Working together with pupils from Dumbarton Academy and community artist Susan Steell the pupils created a triptych portable mural.

The mural will illustrate young people’s impressions of gender through teen magazines and will tour secondary schools in the area during lunchtimes for pupils to view. A white ribbon stall will also tour providing students access to information on sexual bullying, teen dating abuse and local support services whilst promoting the 16 Days of Action and the White Ribbon Campaign.

Venue: All secondary schools in West Dunbartonshire
For more information contact the Reduce Abuse Project: 0141 952 4074

Download full details of these events from http://www.whiteribbonscotland.org.uk/files/West%20Dunbartonshire%20programme.doc

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