A WINSFORD housing trust has secured £500 funding from Children in Need to provide support for young domestic abuse victims.

The money will help provide the Weaver Vale Housing Trust’s Cotswold House female homeless project in Winsford with resources for their 8-week Children and Young People Recovery Toolkit Programme.

The recovery toolkit aims to help abused children explore their experiences within a safe and confidential environment as well as teaching them how to manage their emotions and control negative thinking.

Jackie Sommerville is trained to deliver both children and young people recovery toolkit and an adult recovery toolkit, for survivors of domestic abuse.

She said: “Our aim in delivering this course is to reduce the likelihood of young people developing mental health issues.

“The results so far have been extremely encouraging and we hope that the extra funding will enable us to continue this vital service to the community.”

Living with abuse forces children to develop unhelpful coping strategies but these courses aim to help children in a much more positive way.

Toolkit courses offer the support necessary to provide coping strategies and have proved very successful, however the costs incurred restrict access and availability.

The funding will enable the team at Cotswolds House to purchase art and craft equipment for the children’s activities and help them to provide refreshments and breakfast for the children.