A new community space has opened to tackle rising domestic violence

KentOnline / KMTV

Opened in Sittingbourne by domestic abuse charity Sateda and Age UK. They have brought vital services together under one roof in the hopes of providing wider ranging support.

Transcript

00:00It gives me enormous pleasure to open Heather House Community Club.

00:13Heather House is not just a food bank or an affordable pay what you like cafe or a support

00:20centre for swales most vulnerable. It's in fact all three. Bringing various charities under one

00:27roof such as Domestic Abuse Support Service, Cetida and Age UK. The hope is to make it easier

00:34for those in the community to get the help they need, specialist or otherwise. Be it counselling

00:41for domestic violence, warm clothes or even just good company. If everyone's essential needs are

00:49met there's still a need for community and community is something that's really missing

00:53in this day and age. So you know yes you know in an ideal world we wouldn't be providing

01:00you know support for survivors of domestic abuse. We wouldn't be providing food banks

01:05but we still but we still need community you know with social beings so we still need a place so we

01:09can come together. So I think you know we'll carry on working to remove them dependencies but

01:16having a community is still really important. Somebody might be going to Age UK and then

01:20disclose that they're experiencing abuse or know somebody who is.

01:23We're here to take on those those women and children to support them going forward and

01:28likewise we work in domestic abuse but we don't work in community outreach services.

01:33We don't work in foot care for example where we can get somebody some help for their other

01:39personal care. So it's about working together, recognising individuals as a whole and not

01:44saying that one person can fix everything because we can't we all need to cooperate.

01:49With affordable spaces in Kent's towns becoming more and more uncommon,

01:53those at Heather House believe it will fill a vital gap in the community.

01:58It's really hard for agencies like ours to find community spaces. Family centres are closing

02:04earlier and children's centres have obviously been given a change of focus into family hubs

02:11and there's lots of organisations needing the same space so this means that we don't have to

02:17get into that debate and it opens opportunities for other people too.

02:20It may be a day of celebration but with demand for support growing,

02:25everyone here will have their work cut out for them in 2025.

02:30Oliver Leader the Saks for KMTV in Sittingbourne.

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