Today, we are thrilled to launch ‘I Am A Survivor Too’.
Under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, children are now seen as victims in their own right and this awareness project has created a video to share the real impact of domestic abuse on children and young people.
The video was created because of a gap in the current resources available to help children and young people understand what they have experienced. Often, we hear adults’ voices about what they think children’s experiences may be, but this video was formulated through direct shared collective knowledge from children and young people’s frontline professionals and direct sentiments from children and young people themselves. A script of statements sharing thoughts and feelings were developed, and original animated drawings were created to compliment this. A soft, gradually uplifting background sound was added to represent the journey that children and young people go through. Children and Young People’s voices and experiences were central to the message being conveyed through the video.
This video is for children and young people who may recognise their own experiences, as well as families, educators, support workers, and the wider community. Its aim is to help people understand that children are affected by what happens at home, and to make them feel heard and believed, and encourage those who need help to reach out. We wanted every child to feel represented, and the perpetrator’s identity not be the primary focus. The message for children and young people is that there is support available to help them understand what happened to them. It is vital that children and young people are offered safe, non-judgemental and person-centred support to help them in their recovery journey by trained, specialist providers.
Special thanks to James Ronan, animator and creator for this video and Ali White, Digital Marketing and Design Co-ordinator from WWA, who has been a guiding light in developing this project. We are especially grateful to Ted, Anya, Rhun and Elinor for creating the voice-over to this video- you really helped bring this video to life and touch the hearts of all that will view it.
*Trigger Warning: This video discusses domestic abuse.*