This article is from page 16 of the 2012-11-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
FACT is often more shocking than fiction according to the charity Clare Haven as it calls on book clubs around the county to consisder adding the book “Into the Darkest Corner” by Elizabeth Haynes to their reading list this month.
The Clare charity that supports women who have experienced domestic violence are part of the Mid-West Local Area Network on Violence against Women and the multi-agency fora made up of representatives from statutory, community and voluntary organisations which co-operate to promote a coordinated approach to tackling violence against women in the Mid-West region.
Each year the networks come together for the ’16 Days of Action and Awareness on Violence against Women’ campaign to raise public awareness around issues such as domestic abuse, rape and women’s rights.
The 16 Days is an international campaign which starts on November 25 (UN Day Opposing Violence Against Women) and finishes up on December 10 (Human Rights Day).
This year, as part of the campaign, the Mid-West networks aim to engage people on the issue of domestic violence by encouraging readers and book-clubs to read the book “Into the Darkest Corner”.
The book is a work of fiction which follows the struggles of a woman who becomes trapped in an abusive relationship.
The book has been promoted to local libraries and book-clubs, and discussions have been organised for the book-clubs to meet with local Domestic Abuse services who will critique the book in terms of their experiences of the real-life stories of domestic violence.
The theme for the campaign in the Midwest is “You don’t need a bruise to be abused”.
Using this theme that group hopes to draw attention to the fact that that many women suffer financial, sexual, emotional, psychological, social and verbal abuse – all of which can be as harmful as a physical assault and have serious implications for their mental health and wellbeing.
It is estimated one on five women in Ireland experience domestic violence.