£187k grant to support vulnerable city women

SOME of Dundee’s most vulnerable women are to be given extra support after a local charity was granted more than £180,000 of funding.

The £187,907 grant from the socalled “Tampon Tax” fund will go towards work carried out by Dundee Women’s Aid.

Tax applied as VAT on sanitary items is allocated to charities across the UK.

DWA is to use the money for a project that will see psychologists work with women who have experienced trauma.

Manager Mary Miller said the grant will help make a trial project become a reality.

She said: “This money will allow us to employ either a full-time psychologist, or part-time equivalents, for three years. But it isn’t just our services that will benefit — this will help women who are homeless or facing the threat of homelessness.

“We have been piloting a complex needs project for more than a year now, helping some of the most vulnerable women in Dundee.

“They include drug addicts, homeless people, those with mental health problems, childhood sex abuse victims, prostitutes, domestic abuse victims, commercially sexually exploited women, and women who are regularly in the criminal justice system.

“It’s part of the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership and we are linked in with NHS Fife’s Homelessness Team.

“As you can imagine, a lot of the women we help have chaotic lives.

“We work towards trying to bring some stability into their lives — we try to address the traumatic problems they have.”

Mary said that it’s hoped the project will help women get to the root of their problems and allow them to use mainstream services.

She said: “Having a clinical psychiatric nurse (CPN) will hopefully allow us to accomplish that, remove part of the chaotic lifestyle and allow them to regularly attend appointments.

“Someone with mental health problems and addiction issues might have problems addressing both, so they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, as without dealing with one, the other will remain a problem for them.

“We hope the CPN staff will be in place by September.”