{"id":19579,"date":"2017-11-25T10:02:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-25T10:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=19579"},"modified":"2017-11-25T10:02:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-25T10:02:55","slug":"16-19-year-olds-are-the-most-affected-by-domestic-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/16-19-year-olds-are-the-most-affected-by-domestic-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"16-19 year olds are the most affected by domestic abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new campaign was launched by the mother of Emily Drouet, then 18, who killed herself following an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and fellow student at Aberdeen University in March 2016. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Text messages sent by the law student who killed herself in Aberdeen\u2019s residential halls will be shared on campuses across Scotland as part of a campaign to raise awareness of #domesticviolence among young people, the Guardian reported yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Heartbreaking – texts about abusive relationship from student who killed herself #emilytest<\/a> #EndVAWG<\/a> #DV<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/2FbyN8y8Am<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jane Walmsley (@jwalms61) November 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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We want students to know that there is help out there for them #emilytest<\/a> @NUSScotland<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/rmDrHmAV2a<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NCLanarkshire SA (@NCLanarkshireSA) November 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tragically, Emily Drouet is one of so many young people in the UK who suffer from domestic abuse in relationships. In fact, young people experience the highest rates of domestic violence of any age group, according to reports by\u00a0<\/a>Safe Lives.org.uk on young victims of domestic abuse in intimate partner relationships.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Young victims of domestic abuse in intimate relationships in the UK in 2015. Infographic: Lotta Behrens<\/p><\/div>\n

The Crime Survey of England and Wales discovered<\/a>\u00a0that 6.6% of boys and 12.6% of girls between the ages of 16 to 19 had experienced domestic abuse in 2015.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was the highest rate of any age group; with the second highest group being young people aged 20-24.<\/p>\n

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In addition to that, SafeLives\u2019 data revealed that young victims experience all forms of domestic abuse; with jealousy and controlling behaviour being the most common form – however, physical abuse is not far behind, with 69% of abused people experiencing it. And, only those who indeed made use of adult services were examined and included in these statistics.<\/p>\n

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Total percentage of young people experiencing abuse by abuse type. Infographic: Lotta Behrens<\/p><\/div>\n

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Emily, like most victims, ended up blaming herself for the abuse she endured by her boyfriend Andrew Milligan, 21, who she had met in her first year of university.\u00a0According to the Guardian<\/a>,<\/em> the text messages that will be shared on Scotland\u2019s campuses are messages Emily exchanged with friends in the week before her death.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s my fault\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

\u201cI made him so angry\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI deserve it\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

In one message, she described how she was choked by her boyfriend, then adding:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt scared me so much. I just can\u2019t bear it. I know I should [do something].\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shining light on domestic violence. Photo credit: Shaw Air Force Base<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The emotional poster campaign not only raises awareness of the problem of young people blaming themselves and becoming stuck in domestically violent relationships; it also urges for university staff to receive adequate training in recognising signs of abuse and in handling recognised instances appropriately.<\/p>\n

To ensure that university policies and procedures help in real-life situations, Fiona Drouet, Emily\u2019s mother,\u00a0has also developed the #emilytest<\/a>. It asks: \u201cWould this have helped someone in Emily\u2019s situation?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words: Lotta Behrens | Subbing: Pamela Machado
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new campaign was launched by the mother of Emily Drouet, then 18, who killed herself following an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and fellow student at Aberdeen University in March 2016. Text messages sent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}