April has been an unusual month for Safespots, as I am sure it has been for everybody else. We have seen huge increases in the number of people making contact with us, a much greater variety in the types of calls we are getting and a spike in people suffering greatly as a result of the Governments Covid-19 lockdown measures.

We have seen the closure of our doors for the longest time since opening the Safespots centre 4 years ago but, we still remain 100% committed to supporting women and families in our community. In April, we supported over 180 women and families and delivered 24 supplies of food and toiletries to homes across south Manchester.

We have seen nationally a huge rise in calls to domestic abuse services and Safespots is no different. Calls to our service have increased by 162% during lockdown. The nature of the calls has been slightly different to what you may expect. We have more people contacting the service asking for help around ex partners harassing them, difficulties around child contact and probably the most prominent, people struggling with their mental health during this difficult time. We are not seeing an increase in people stuck in the house with an abusive partner wanting to get out. We know this is happening, we know this need is there but, the lockdown makes it very difficult for women to reach out to services when they are stuck in the same place as their abuser.

At Safespots, we anticipate this increase in calls will continue, we also anticipate that post lockdown we will see numbers continue to increase as women are able to get out and access services slightly more easily.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has donated to Safespots so far, this has enabled us to support families who have been struggling with practical things such as food or things for their kids to do during lockdown. These funds have made a real difference to a large number of families. We would also like to thank our partners across Wythenshawe who continue to remain committed to helping our community through this difficult time.

We want women to know we are still here, if you need help and support please contact us on 07873889637 or alternatively, you can email info@safespots.org.uk.