On leaving the police force I worked with high risk Domestic Abuse ladies and children, keeping them safe, addressing the abusive relationships that they had found themselves in and helping them to move forward to live safe, and eventually healthy relationships.

I qualified as a practitioner working with children on a one to one basis or in a group who had witnessed abuse or had been abused themselves.  I also trained to deliver a program to adults who had experienced childhood trauma.

Whilst working with the ladies and children it became apparent that there was no-one dealing with the abuse aspect at “grass roots” there was plenty of intervention once women (and men) became adult victims but there was no intervention at teenage level.

Teenagers are vulnerable in their own right with peer pressure, emotions, hormones, school pressure, if you then add in them witnessing unhealthy relationships at home,  the teenager herself being in an abuse relationship, perhaps putting herself at risk of child exploitation by associating with older males who make her “feel special” it is no wonder that we now have so many victims of abuse.