AMIS has a tiny team of three part-time staff, supported by volunteers. For ten years, we have been running a helpline, with ongoing support for as long as it’s needed. We also provide training for other services; educational input for young people on healthy relationships; and we do our best to inform consultations and fora related to partner abuse, as we envision a future when public policy and provision is gender-inclusive and equitable.
We urgently need to match £14,000, pledged by The Robertson Trust to continue our Support Officer post for the helpline – but only if we can match it by the end of the year. We have launched a Crowdfunder, which you can donate any amount to.
AMIS gets no public funding for our services, even in a pandemic when our caseload has increased by 25%. It’s been a hard year for our clients, the 450 or so that we’ve been working with. COVID-19 restrictions and all the associated stresses have exacerbated partner abuse, with victims having few opportunities for respite. It is harder for us to help them during a pandemic. Refuge or any safe accommodation for male victims, hard to come by at the best of times, is well-nigh impossible to find now.
Writing funding applications to Trusts, Foundations, and Lotteries is time-consuming and time has been limited this year. We did spend many hours composing a few, but little was achieved. We are now having a concerted effort but fear sufficient funding will not arrive soon enough.
We have been fortunate to receive a steady stream of donations from our supporters, some of whom are men who have had help from AMIS in the past, or from families who have witnessed the abuse of a male relative. Others recognise that this is a much-needed but politically unpopular cause. Society and policymakers still find it hard to recognise men can be victims. We owe a debt of gratitude to all our donors.
If we have a funding gap, we plan to run the charity with volunteers only, until we can employ staff again. That is not ideal, and could only be sustained for three months or so, but we can not allow this vital charity to close. There is no adequate, appropriate alternative to AMIS.
If abuse is not addressed the effects on the individual – and the costs to society – can be severe. One contact told us, after nearly two decades of abuse:
‘I only ever asked one psychiatrist what was wrong with me. Right away, he said: “Post-traumatic stress at the extreme end of the spectrum”.’
It’s always worth-while to know when we made a difference. A client responded to a survey about AMIS:
‘Called them (AMIS) several times Initially about helping me contextualise the relationship – “was this normal” To what I needed to consider and plan To finally helping me finding a counsellor to I pick the aftermath They have saved my life’
Every little helps and all donations are very much appreciated.
