"From inside"

We started a new project, we want to share from inside the work we do in groups of women victims and survivors of gender violence. They are open groups, there is movement. There are women who enter and others who graduate, while some are taking their first steps out of violence, others have already made their way, these differences are the ones that best promote learning.

It is not easy to talk about the violence suffered, the pain, the shame, the guilt, the frustration. And although the issue of violence is more present than in past decades, women are not always heard without being judged, and contained with the promise of being accompanied on the path of living without violence. The group is a space for containment, support and learning among women. Meeting other women who have experienced similar situations provides emotional security and confidence. The concern of all for the situation of each one, the accompaniment, the presence, the attentive listening, the understanding, the respect for personal time, the emotional availability are part of the experience of group work.

Our goal is to show what is built in this space, the issues that are addressed, the path that women travel and, mainly, transmit their words.

We started this project, taking up a question we asked when a woman enters a group, so that she hears the experience of other women who have gone through similar situations:

Why is or has the group been important to you?

? "I don't know how to put into words everything that helped me, from that moment when they could pick me up from the floor with a spoon, from how undone I was, until now that I feel strong. I am not afraid of anything. I feel that I can face anything ".

? “For me the group is a great contention. He accompanies me in the fight so that my children and I are as far away as possible from the violence that the father of my children exercises against us. I have made me open my eyes to many things, and I keep opening them ”.

? "The group is important to become aware and know where you are standing

Since by naturalizing violence ... you are not fully aware of the invisible that surrounds you, but it destroys except when it is too late and they touch your body ”.

? “The group is important to me because it helped me to realize that I am not alone. It meant a safety net for me. They give me a space for listening and reflection that allows me to think and share experiences ”.

By listening to the stories of the others, they understand that violence is the responsibility of the person who exercises it, and this allows them to gradually dissolve the guilt that does not allow them to live. The group helps them to be able to dislodge, very little by little, his voice de él, which resounds in their heads, on their skin, marking all the time what they have to think, what to do, what to say. And when that voice begins to start, their own voice begins to creep in, to appear the essence of themselves.

? “I was able to start a new life with a group of friends who take care of each other! I can say that it was in a closed box and in the dark !! And now I am a rose that blooms every day !! Grateful to the group and my new friends that I have !!

? “It was and is very positive to have entered shalom bait and to recognize in my own history many of the stories that the girls in the group shared and share what I had naturalized, justified, hidden, denied, defended ... because I was a victim of domestic violence, and although it was hard to find those words, it is necessary to name them, say them, understand them, incorporate them, accept them ”.

? “The Shalom group offers me a space to share experiences and to be able to observe a situation from different points of view. A very containerized round trip of help is generated ”.

We understand the group as part of a dynamic whole, where there are reciprocal interactions between each of the women with the coordinators, and with the other women who attend the group.

The groups are coordinated by two professionals specialized in the subject, the group also transforms the professionals, who over the years go through their own learning. His words from him reflect it:

Why is group work important to victims?

? “Women share their stories without fear of criticism or being judged for anything, and step by step they are encouraged to express their emotions and thoughts. Violence has robbed them of that freedom and as a group they work to recover and defend it. There in the group, in that safe space, they learn to listen and to give place to their own voice. "

? “In the groups an invisible and resistant network is woven and when forces are exhausted, when confusion wins, that network contains, sustains, listening, solidarity presence, the tools to stop once more and continue, are deployed, knowing that it is not alone."

"From inside"

We started a new project, we want to share from inside the work we do in groups of women victims and survivors of gender violence. They are open groups, there is movement. There are women who enter and others who graduate, while some are taking their first steps out of violence, others have already made their way, these differences are the ones that best promote learning.

It is not easy to talk about the violence suffered, the pain, the shame, the guilt, the frustration. And although the issue of violence is more present than in past decades, women are not always heard without being judged, and contained with the promise of being accompanied on the path of living without violence. The group is a space for containment, support and learning among women. Meeting other women who have experienced similar situations provides emotional security and confidence. The concern of all for the situation of each one, the accompaniment, the presence, the attentive listening, the understanding, the respect for personal time, the emotional availability are part of the experience of group work.

Our goal is to show what is built in this space, the issues that are addressed, the path that women travel and, mainly, transmit their words.

We started this project, taking up a question we asked when a woman enters a group, so that she hears the experience of other women who have gone through similar situations:

Why is or has the group been important to you?

? "I don't know how to put into words everything that helped me, from that moment when they could pick me up from the floor with a spoon, from how undone I was, until now that I feel strong. I am not afraid of anything. I feel that I can face anything ".

? “For me the group is a great contention. He accompanies me in the fight so that my children and I are as far away as possible from the violence that the father of my children exercises against us. I have made me open my eyes to many things, and I keep opening them ”.

? "The group is important to become aware and know where you are standing

Since by naturalizing violence ... you are not fully aware of the invisible that surrounds you, but it destroys except when it is too late and they touch your body ”.

? “The group is important to me because it helped me to realize that I am not alone. It meant a safety net for me. They give me a space for listening and reflection that allows me to think and share experiences ”.

By listening to the stories of the others, they understand that violence is the responsibility of the person who exercises it, and this allows them to gradually dissolve the guilt that does not allow them to live. The group helps them to be able to dislodge, very little by little, his voice de él, which resounds in their heads, on their skin, marking all the time what they have to think, what to do, what to say. And when that voice begins to start, their own voice begins to creep in, to appear the essence of themselves.

? “I was able to start a new life with a group of friends who take care of each other! I can say that it was in a closed box and in the dark !! And now I am a rose that blooms every day !! Grateful to the group and my new friends that I have !!

? “It was and is very positive to have entered shalom bait and to recognize in my own history many of the stories that the girls in the group shared and share what I had naturalized, justified, hidden, denied, defended ... because I was a victim of domestic violence, and although it was hard to find those words, it is necessary to name them, say them, understand them, incorporate them, accept them ”.

? “The Shalom group offers me a space to share experiences and to be able to observe a situation from different points of view. A very containerized round trip of help is generated ”.

We understand the group as part of a dynamic whole, where there are reciprocal interactions between each of the women with the coordinators, and with the other women who attend the group.

The groups are coordinated by two professionals specialized in the subject, the group also transforms the professionals, who over the years go through their own learning. His words from him reflect it:

Why is group work important to victims?

? “Women share their stories without fear of criticism or being judged for anything, and step by step they are encouraged to express their emotions and thoughts. Violence has robbed them of that freedom and as a group they work to recover and defend it. There in the group, in that safe space, they learn to listen and to give place to their own voice. "

? “In the groups an invisible and resistant network is woven and when forces are exhausted, when confusion wins, that network contains, sustains, listening, solidarity presence, the tools to stop once more and continue, are deployed, knowing that it is not alone."