1 in 3 women will experience domestic abuse in Scotland this year.

I'll give you a moment to let that crippling figure sink in. 1 in 3. I'll bet you didn't think that statistic was so high, after all, where are all these 1 in 3 women?! You've probably never met anyone who is a domestic abuse survivor, right?

Wrong.

We're the lovely lady you say good morning to on the train every day. We're the teacher who teaches your child all day at school. We're your colleague at work. We're the friend you haven't seen much of recently. We're your sister, your aunt, your daughter and even your mum.

We just don't talk about it. We try our best to put on our masks and hide the almighty devastation our lives have had; the devastation that changed us as humans forever.

Hi, I'm Kathryn and I am a domestic abuse survivor. I am 34, a mum of two amazing children and a business owner. Not that any of that stopped a serial abuser from targeting me. You see, domestic abuse isn't reserved for a certain type of person, with a certain background or who has a certain colour of skin.

I've spent the last 5 years hiding this fact about me, ashamed, worried people would think differently of me if they knew, if they even believed me in the first place. But now, I know we have to talk about the darkness that exists in this world so that survivors, like me, feel less alone and isolated. So survivors can find hope that their lives can be rebuilt. So we can find the light in what feels like the never-ending darkness.

Glasgow Woman's Aid, and similar organisations, are quite literally life savers for women and children who have fled domestic abuse. They offer emotional support, legal advice, clothing and financial aid, amongst many other things required when a survivor has been left with nothing. And I mean nothing.

More importantly, Woman's Aid provide emergency housing and escape plans so that women and children can safely get out. Often, the lack of these things are what keeps women from fleeing. But more alarmingly, when a woman escapes, this is the most critical time - this is when the abuse and danger to us and our children is at its highest because the abuser has lost the control. It can often become extremely violent, and in some case, results in lives being taken. This is why organisations like Woman's Aid are needed, and they need financial support to keep doing all the good work they are doing.

I want to share a story with you, a story about a close friend. Her and her son spent 5 years being systematically abused by a partner. She didn't know she was being abused, as we so often don't, until the abuse escalated to the point she was fearing for their lives. She went to the police, and through working with Woman's Aid, she made a plan to escape with her son and their dog. It would take weeks to do so safely, but she was prepared to keep acting like nothing had changed at home so that the abuser wouldn't find out.

This is the harsh reality that domestic abuse survivors face. This is the prospect that 1 in 3 women in Scotland will face. This is the endless work that Glasgow Woman's Aid manage each and every day.

This year, Glasgow Woman's Aid are celebrating 50 years in action. That's a lot of survivors helped. To celebrate the success, the wins and the advancements this organisation has made, they're asking volunteers to pledge and help raise funds so that they can keep charging on.

That's where you come in. To pay back the support I have received from this organisation, and to pay forward to the women and children who will walk through its doors, I am making a pledge and I need you to support me.

For those who don't know my story, you won't know that I found recovery through karate. 4 years ago, broken, a shell of a human and at absolute rock bottom, I stepped into a dojo as a last bid to find strength. I was suicidal, terrified and willing to try anything to get my life back. I decided to try karate.

It was nothing short of a miracle. Through my training, I regained confidence, I formed a strength I never knew I had, and I found my family; my dojo family. Karate, quite simply, saved my life.

So my pledge involves the very thing that saved me, the thing that keeps me going strong and is my shining light.

If you don't know karate, you might be thinking "you already do karate, how can that be hard for you?"

Let me tell you, this is no easy feat. During a standard training session, we'll work on 2, maybe 3 kata. On a competition day, we'll do a maximum of 5 kata. All with breaks in between, never consecutively. To do 50, one after the other? That's borderline madness.

But what domestic abuse survivors face is no walk in the park. It's gruelling and it takes every bit of energy to get to the end. That's why my pledge is symbolic to me.

On Sunday 1st October, the start of Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, I'll be embarking on this challenge in aid of Glasgow Woman's Aid. I ask that you please donate whatever you can afford for the 1 in 3 woman in Scotland who will need this service this year.

If you'd like to follow my journey to this, or tune in to the live stream of my pledge, follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kathrynveroni_karate/

For more information on Glasgow Woman's Aid and the work that they do, head to their Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/glasgowwomensaid/

I guess it's time to get to the dojo to start training for this monumental task! Thank you for reading so far and an advance thank you for all the funds we're going to raise for this amazing cause,

Kathryn

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What is kata?

To the unknowing eye, kata appears to be a dance of sorts, or a performance sequence similar to what a gymnast would do on the floor. However, the origins of kata are very cool and understanding about kata helps to know why karateka use this as a vital tool for training.

Historically, Japanese masters created kata to train their warriors for combat in secret. Each kata belonged to a singular Sensei, and their students would spend years studying just that kata. Every move or sequence of moves is an attack or block, that can be used in real life fighting against an opponent.

In essence, each kata is a fight that was fought many years ago by a Japanese karateka. Every time we practice kata, we are fighting a fight that was fought before. Personally, I think this is very cool.