People left with severe mental health issues due to domestic abuse

The founder of La Dolce Vita Project has said that within their service, dozens upon dozens of users have stated that they have experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harming issues at least three times in the past year.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jan 2017, 11:34 BST
Updated 9th Jan 2017, 13:02 BST
Deputy Mayor of Derry and Strabane Colr Jim McKeever, La Doice Vita Project founder Donna Maria Logue and Mark H Durkan MLA cutting a ribbon on the Peace Bridge to mark the recent first anniversary of the project supporting victims of domestic abuse. A Walk in My Shoes procession, from Ebrington Square to the City Hotel, followed the ribbon cutting. DER0117GS012Deputy Mayor of Derry and Strabane Colr Jim McKeever, La Doice Vita Project founder Donna Maria Logue and Mark H Durkan MLA cutting a ribbon on the Peace Bridge to mark the recent first anniversary of the project supporting victims of domestic abuse. A Walk in My Shoes procession, from Ebrington Square to the City Hotel, followed the ribbon cutting. DER0117GS012
Deputy Mayor of Derry and Strabane Colr Jim McKeever, La Doice Vita Project founder Donna Maria Logue and Mark H Durkan MLA cutting a ribbon on the Peace Bridge to mark the recent first anniversary of the project supporting victims of domestic abuse. A Walk in My Shoes procession, from Ebrington Square to the City Hotel, followed the ribbon cutting. DER0117GS012

Donna-Maria Logue, whose charity works with those impacted by domestic abuse, commented: “The links between domestic abuse, suicide, self-harm and mental health is not highlighted enough.”

Due to this he had contacted the SDLP’s Mark H. Durkan and he had submitted questions to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Those questions were indirectly answered. They did not give me the answer I was hoping for,” Ms Logue said, adding that the ‘disapropriate costs’ of gathering information on various issues relating to domestic violence was cited as the reason for not collating that information. “So for me to find out information again it comes down to costs. In my eyes that is wrong.”

Among the information requested from the Department for Health was the number of victims in domestic abuseseparated from their children Department of Health.

Ms. Logue added: “This was the answer: ‘Information on the number of victims in domestic abuse separated from their children by Social Services is not centrally available and could only be provided by a manual trawl through thousands of files at a disapproprate cost’. This is wrong.”

Ms. Logue outlined the services offered by La Dolce Vita, including assisting and assessing the needs of individuals, such as court proceedings, preparing for meetings, linking in with other agencies, online support, confidential counselling slots and workshops.

Related topics:PeopleMark H. DurkanSDLPDepartment of Health