stories

Financial Support Helped this Male Survivor - the Story of D ​

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D called the Suffolk Domestic Abuse Helpline after advice from the police following a serious assault: D was involved in an altercation, ending with D being attacked with a weapon and requiring several stitches and other hospital treatment. 

 

The partner was financially dependent on D and, due to Covid-19, D was unable to work and found the strain difficult. The partner did not contribute at all and was very controlling in the home. Due to their financially dependency, D said he felt coerced to support her by paying for her to store some unusable items. This cost was absorbable when D was working but has become an enormous strain. 

 

This strain has added to the trauma and is having a massive effect on D’s mental health and wellbeing. 

 

D called the helpline and a DASH risk assessment was completed (DASH is an official way of assessing risk - the acronym stands for: domestic abuse, stalking and 'honour'-based violence). D was assessed as a medium risk victim of domestic abuse and, as such, ACT opened a full case for him. D’s first priority was the mounting debt - his ACT support worker sought advice from their money advice team. They suggested an application from a charitable trust to cover the debt and to give a date for the items to be collected. ACT supported D to complete the application. The trust referral was quickly accepted and advice was given to D from ACT's money advice team. 

 

D has taken positive steps to reduce his debt and has been told that the items can be disposed of. With this in mind, D’s support worker successfully applied for funding from ACT’s Covid relief fund to have the items removed. The trust grant was increased to cover the outstanding debt D had. 

 

D says that it is a huge weight off his shoulders  - he feels that he is now able to move on with his life. D has also been contacted by an employment agency and is due to return to work in shortly. D was thankful for ACT’s intervention and said that he was unsure how he would have managed without our support.