Domestic Abuse Recovery Service
What is the NSPCC DART Programme?
The DART programme aids families strengthen their relationship following domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse happens when one person hurts or bullies another person who is or was their partner or who is in the same family. It can happen between people who are going out together, living together, have children together or are married to each other. It can happen either when people live together or separately.
How does Domestic Abuse affect children and relationships?
Domestic abuse can have a huge impact on children.
Their responses to witnessing such abuse can be very different, and some are affected more than others. These effects may be short or long-term and can impact on many aspects of your family’s life.
Often domestic abuse is not discussed between family members, which can have an impact on how parent/carers and children relate to each other.
What happens in a DART GROUP?
Families will explore:
- what domestic abuse is
- why it’s okay to talk about domestic abuse
- some strategies to protect you and your family from domestic abuse
- why you are not to blame for the domestic abuse
- some ways of building your own and your child’s self esteem
- how you and your child can constructively express your feelings and emotions such as anger
What happens in a DART GROUP?
- Children must be aged 5-14
- The programme works with one mother and one child at a time. If there is more than one child, you could ask the mother if she’d like to work through the programme again at a later stage with the other children.
- The perpetrator of domestic abuse must not be living within the family home, and must no longer be in a relationship with the mother. This is because it’s important that mothers and their children feel safe enough to take part in the programme.
How to refer/ who can refer?
We accept referrals from all agencies and families can also self-refer.
You can request a referral form via our contact page.