Building Resilience and Valuing Emotions (BRAVE) - support for victims of domestic abuse

Building Resilience and Valuing Emotions after domestic abuse (BRAVE) provides therapeutic support for adults of all genders across Berkshire who have experienced domestic abuse emotional difficulties following this abuse.

To use BRAVE, individuals must be:

• registered with a GP in Berkshire
• living away from the alleged perpetrator of their abuse
• not currently engaging in other forms of therapy.

The BRAVE journey starts with an initial assessment that helps us understand:

• your current situation
• the difficulties you are experiencing
• how we can support you to overcome them.

After your assessment, you may be invited to join a small group programme:

• the BRAVE (for women and people assigned female at birth) or
• BRAVE Too (for men and people assigned male at birth) 12 week programme.

Our group-based programme offers separate single-sex support groups for clients to learn new skills and ways of coping to help them break free from their past.

Graduates from the 12-week programme are invited to join BRAVE EMBRACE, a group for graduates to give and receive emotional support, that can be attended for up to 2 years.

If you have experienced domestic abuse in the past and you would benefit from some support for how you are feeling, then please ask your support service to refer you.

We accept referrals from a wide range of services across Berkshire, including:

• Hestia
• Berkshire Women’s Aid (BWA)
• The Dash (Domestic Abuse Stops Here) Charity
• Slough Children’s Services Trust
• The Freedom Programme.

Your support worker, social worker, or mental health professional can:

• email BRAVE@berkshire.nhs.uk to discuss whether the service could be helpful for you.
• make a referral by downloading the referral form on the BRAVE website and email it to the BRAVE email address.