The Project Director of the Female Safety App is taking on a 62-mile walking challenge this October to raise money for Refuge and awareness of domestic abuse.
The challenge has a deeply personal meaning. Having experienced domestic abuse in her own life, she knows how fear and controlling behaviour can affect someone’s sense of safety and the people close to them. She will also walk in memory of her mother.
Her experience has shaped the work she does today. As Project Director of the Female Safety App, she helps provide women and girls with another way to seek support when they feel unsafe. The app offers SOS alerts, live location sharing, journey monitoring and incident reporting, backed by a control room monitored by people around the clock.
For her, the app’s purpose goes beyond its features. She wants women to feel heard and to have somewhere to turn when something is wrong.
She also hopes the walk will draw attention to forms of abuse that can be harder to recognise. Domestic abuse may involve coercive control, emotional or financial abuse, as well as physical violence. From her own experience, she knows that recognising abuse, asking for help and leaving an abusive situation can be far more difficult than others might assume.
Refuge says one in four women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime. It also says that, on average, a woman is killed by an abusive partner or former partner every five days. Those figures are part of the reason she wants to support the charity’s work with women and children.
Throughout the 62 miles, she will be thinking of her mother, her own experiences and women currently living with abuse who may be unsure whether they will be heard or believed.
By walking for Refuge and continuing her work with the Female Safety App, she hopes to turn painful experiences into something that helps others. Each mile will be a tribute to her mother and a show of support for women seeking a life free from fear.
For more information about the Female Safety App – www.femalesafetyapp.com
To donate – www.justgiving.com/id/alicia1789454233419
