A Brief History of our Services
North Derbyshire Women’s Aid (NDWA) was established in 1985, thanks to support from Derbyshire County Council (DCC) Social Services. A refuge was opened, in a small village in North East Derbyshire, the following year, accommodating 6 families. A second refuge, Celia House, developed in partnership with Stonham Housing Association, was opened in Chesterfield in 1990, again for six families. In 2003, in conjunction with East Midlands Housing Association, a purpose built refuge, Beryl House, replaced the original North East Derbyshire building, accommodating 7 families at any one time and Supporting People began funding the support costs of women living in our refuges.
The need to offer support to women who did not want to come into a refuge or who had left one of the refuges prompted us to open an Advice and Drop-In Centre in 1998. The Centre moved to new expanded premises in Chesterfield in 2005.
In addition to our refuge and Advice Centre services and with the initial help and financial support of NEDDC, we were able to set up a Floating Support service, which became fully funded by Supporting People in the 2003/04 financial year.
In 2006, as a result of funding from DCC through the Children and Younger Adults Preventative Services strategy, NDWA expanded out into the community with the addition of 3 new Adult Outreach workers and 3 new Children and Young People’s Outreach workers. The Outreach team provide support to women and children living in the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire Districts and the Borough of Chesterfield, who may be unable to access the Advice Centre. This service is also available to men who have or are experiencing domestic abuse.
The same funding provided us with a Volunteer Coordinator post allowing us to develop a ‘Befriending’ service through our Volunteer programme.
In 2007, NDWA welcomed our most recent addition to service provision, funded through DCC, DC Primary Care Trust and Derbyshire Police, our Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA). The IDVA service provides support to women and men who are considered to be at very high risk of harm and who live in North Derbyshire.
