Skip over main navigation
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
Panahghar
Panahghar 24hr Helpline 0800 055 6519 Quick exit
  • Search
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Contact us Donate
  • Twitter
Menu
  • Get help
    • Help for women
    • Help for men
    • How to refer
    • Help for professionals
    • How to cover your tracks
    • Other key resources
  • Our services
    • Coventry
    • Leicester
    • "Safe to Talk" support services
    • West Midlands Forced Marriage and ‘Honour’ Based Abuse Helpline
    • Refuge
    • IDVA
    • Support Groups
    • Outreach
    • Panahghar's support
  • Domestic Abuse
    • Types of domestic violence and abuse
    • Cultural challenges
    • Female genital mutilation
    • Forced marriages
    • 'Honour' based violence
    • Myth busting
  • Our story
    • Our story
    • Case Studies
  • Get involved
    • Donate
    • Fundraise
    • Volunteer
    • Partnerships
    • Send or leave a gift
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Case Studies
  1. Our story
  2. Case Studies

Case Studies

Panahghar's services support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women fleeing domestic abuse, sexual abuse or gendered abuse. Here we share some of our service user's experiences in the hope to raise awareness of abuse and issues related to abuse in the BAME community. We are proud to support our BAME communities and all the survivors who Panahghar have helped.

Mrs K's experience

Mrs K met her husband through an arranged marriage and arrived in the UK on a spousal visa from Erirtrea in East Africa. In the UK, Mrs K lived with her husband and their 2-year-old child with a child on the way in an overcrowded multi-occupancy house.

Mrs K was reliant on her husband financially and he controlled the money he gave to her. This meant she didn’t always have enough money for food for herself and her child.

Mrs K’s husband also had a gambling problem and when things did not go his way, he would get angry and become erratic causing arguments and being emotionally and verbally abusive towards Mrs K.

Mrs K reported the domestic abuse to the police but the police told her they couldn’t do anything about it because it was emotional abuse not physical. She tried several times to get help from various agencies but as she had an insecure immigration status, she couldn’t get the help she needed.

Mrs K was referred to Panahghar by one of the agencies Mrs K got in touch with. We contacted Mrs K over the phone while she was still living with her husband. Mrs K was heavily pregnant at the time and couldn’t travel much so she got a lot of support over the phone initially. Mrs K used to have Panahghar in the phone as ‘midwife’ so her husband would not get suspicious.

Panahghar gave Mrs K ongoing emotional support to deal with what happened to her and other assistance in the background related to housing and her immigration status so she was able to leave her husband and have a temporary place to go whilst a more long-term solution was being organised with the support of Panahghar. 

As Mrs K had no recourse to public funds due to her insecure immigration status, help was delayed and withheld from some agencies and services. This is a big issue in supporting BAME communities in the UK today and particularly those fleeing from domestic abuse, sexual abuse or other gendered abuse. 

Miss A's experience

Miss A was a 32 year old British Indian woman with two children under the age of 2. Since her partner’s father passed away a few months before, her partner had been mostly intoxicated with drugs and had become violent towards her, emotionally abusive and financially abusive.

Miss A sought advice from the Coventry Housing department and was referred to Panahghar for help with housing and find a way to escape the situation. 

Panahghar provided immediate support with refuge and access to the food bank for Miss A and her children. A safety and support plan was also created. This plan included emotional development support and education for Miss A on understanding types of domestic violence and abuse.

Other support included arranging a new GP for the family and arranging appointments for them. Our practitioners also helped Miss A with finding new longer term housing and doing administrative tasks to send any correspondences related to accounts, benefits and income support to their new location and finding new support and benefits Miss A could receive. 

The work at Panahghar is not completed when a service user leaves a refuge. Ongoing support was provided for Miss A with regular support sessions, helping to source longer term accommodation and educational and health support for the children.

Published: 4th August, 2020

Updated: 1st November, 2020

Author: Frances Sheehan

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • Partnerships

    Partnerships

    Panahghar are always open to connecting and working with new people, other charities, researchers and organisations to see if a partnership is suitable.

  • Careers

    Join us for a career at Panahghar.

  • Case Studies

    Case Studies

    Panahghar's services support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women fleeing domestic abuse, sexual abuse or gendered abuse. Here are some case studies of some of our service users that Panahghar has helped.

  • Coercive control

Most read

  • Partnerships

    Partnerships

    Panahghar are always open to connecting and working with new people, other charities, researchers and organisations to see if a partnership is suitable.

  • How we're funded

  • Mission, vision, values

  • Donate to Panahghar

    Donate to Panahghar

    We need your donations to continue to provide our service to BAME victims of domestic abuse and help them start a new life free from abuse. With your support, we can continue to save lives.

  • Our structure

    Replace this with your content

  • Text styles

    Text styles for the site

  • Support us

  • Volunteer for us

  • Where your money goes

  • Our impact

Latest tweet

  • Contact us
  • Careers
  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Head office: PO Box 5074, Coventry, CV1 9FF
Panahghar 24hr Helpline: 0800 055 6519 | Email: [email protected]

Copyright ©2020 Panahghar | Registered charity no. 1007676