The Service in the Refuge

Wycombe Women’s Aid has a dedicated children’s service which aims to meet the emotional, physical and educational needs of all the children living in the refuge.  All of the children will have been affected by domestic violence and specially trained Child Development Workers will support the children throughout their stay.

Our overall aim is to provide a safe and supportive environment in which children can play, experience new activities, talk about their experiences of domestic violence, spend time with other children who have had similar experiences and increase their self-confidence and self-esteem.  This is achieved through free play, structured activities, trips outside the refuge, After School Group, holiday play schemes and one-to-one sessions.

Wycombe Women’s Aid has a fully equipped Playroom and garden – this is a safe space that can be enjoyed by children of all ages.  The Playroom is registered with Ofsted and our latest inspection took place in October 2021.

The Child Workers will help to arrange a school or nursery place as well as offering support and guidance on any aspect of a child’s welfare.  

Women’s Aid Federation England (WAFE) has an excellent website dedicated to children and young people.  The website helps children and young people to understand domestic violence and how to take positive action if it is happening to them.  The website can be found here: http://www.thehideout.org.uk/default.aspa

Youth Service

The Youth Service is currently not in operation.  This webpage will be updated when the service is operational again.

Wycombe Women’s Aid has a dedicated Youth Worker who works with young people (boys and girls) aged 11-17 years who are living either in the refuge or in the local community.

She works with young people who have experienced domestic violence at home, or in their own personal relationships, providing emotional support to enable them to reflect on and heal from their experiences of domestic violence and to make choices about their current and future options. She promotes the safety, health and well-being of young people, raising their awareness around their rights to feel safe and healthy relationships. The Youth Worker provides a safe environment for the young people to express their feelings and to develop their self-esteem and self-confidence.

The Youth Worker works closely with schools, through one to one support, assemblies and class awareness raising sessions with teachers and pupils, to ensure young people are able to make safe and informed choices within personal relationships and their home environment.  The Youth Worker also helps to raise awareness of the nature and prevalence of domestic violence.

The Youth Worker can also deliver training to schools, other agencies and youth settings around domestic violence and young people and healthy relationships.

The Youth Service can be contacted by calling TBC on TBC

A leaflet outlining the Youth Service can be found here:

Pending

If you are a young person living in the High Wycombe, Chiltern or South Bucks districts of Buckinghamshire and you would like to refer yourself to the Youth Service, please contact TBC on TBC, use the Contact Us form to send us a message or complete the self-referral form below:

Pending

If you are not a young person, but you would like to refer a young person who lives in the High Wycombe, Chiltern or South Bucks districts of Buckinghamshire to the Youth Service, or you would like to find out more about the training that can be delivered, please contact TBC on TBC, use the Contact Us form to send us a message or complete the referral form below:

Pending