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Arch connects with people at difficult times in their lives, providing a range of accommodation and support services in Staffordshire and East Cheshire. We work with people who need support to take back control of their lives and make positive choices. By giving tailored support to each individual designed around their own personal circumstances, we help people to rebuild their resilience, enhance their life-skills and develop their independence.

We help people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, experiencing domestic violence, leaving care, misusing drugs or alcohol, leaving prison, suffering from mental ill-health, or struggling to maintain their independence or their tenancy. If we cannot help someone who comes to us, we put them in touch with other organisations that can.

Arch provides safe, supportive refuges throughout North Staffordshire for single women and women with children.

The Refuge I am looking to support is run on an extremely tight budget, and has had to rely on support from the local community and individuals more and more in these times of harsh austerity, to meet the fundamental needs of our customers.

Many of the women and children that come to Refuge come from out of area, or have had to flee immediately, so often arrive with the bare minimum; they often need support in basic and fundamental items like food, toiletries, clothing, and school uniform – we have excellent support from our local food bank but this is of course limited. We are constantly working to build a good and healthy food store, clothes bank, toiletries and of course, books and toys for the Children. We also aim to provide some basic items at the very least like kettles, toaster, crockery etc. when supporting families through the resettlement process.

We very much believe that our women and children deserve a good quality of life - if something isn’t good enough for us, why should we expect it to be good enough for them? We’re working very hard to promote this thought process.

We currently have 11 women in Refuge, and 11 children with various children, ranging from 6 months to ten years old. A lot of women come here and do not have any benefits in place, and making the painfully brave decision to leave is itself over whelming, so finances are an added pressure, so if we can provide the basics to get them through those initial weeks, this pressure is alleviated a little.

The effects of Domestic Abuse on children and young people is complicated, complex, and can be detrimental in their lives as they grow up. We want to provide the children with happy memories whilst here, in what can be a strange and uncertain time, so we are continually fundraising to provide trips to the seaside, outdoor toys and games, trips to the cinema – things we all very much take for granted.

Domestic Violence comes with many complexities - the transition to Refuge is hard and life-changing, and can be very difficult – but we are a fierce and passionate team, who strive to provide a happy, supported, and SAFE experience for all of the women and children who stay here, and support them in having a positive, happy, safe life, that they are in control of.

Some Facts;

· On average two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales.
· Domestic abuse-related crime is 8% of total crime.
· On average the police receive an emergency call relating to domestic abuse every 30 seconds.
· Domestic cases now account for 14.1% of all court prosecutions, and the volume of prosecutions rose this year to the highest level ever of 92,779. 92.4% of defendants were male and 7.6% were women. 84% of victims were female and 16% were male.