Domestic violence booklet launch

POWERFUL stories written by women who have experienced domestic violence, are contained in a booklet ‘Surviving the Darkness’ which will be launched by Wexford Women’s Refuge in Wexford Library this Thursday, November 30 at 5pm.

Guest speaker at the event will be the leading academic Ailbhe Smyth who was a founding director of the Women’s Education, Resource and Research Centre at University College Dublin.

Seven women who attended the refuge in Distillery Road tell their personal stories in the booklet which will be available free in doctor’s surgeries, community premises and courthouses.

The women took part in a 12-week personal development programme run by Refuge Manager Pauline Ennis with an external facilitator in the FDYS which was followed by creative writing workshops hosted by the Wexford writer Sylvia Cullen.

‘It took great personal courage to write these stories down but it also provided great healing’, said Ms. Ennis who hopes that the book will provide inspiration and empowerment for other women who may be experiencing violence in the home.

‘The reason they’ve written down their stories is to encourage other women to realise that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You can get help and support and you can start a fresh life for you and your children’, shes said.

‘We hope it will serve as an inspirational tool to empower other women to seek help and to break the cycle of domestic violence’, said Ms. Ennis.

While the women are not identified by name in the booklet, a few of them have chosen to speak at the library launch which is open to the public.