Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence

Domestic abuse and VAWG has been in the heart of our work for over ten years during which and we have been able to develop it and to branch out to new areas. Our projects are delivered by and with Irish Traveller women with lived experiences of domestic abuse, ensuring a deep level of understanding and sensitivity of the complexities of such relationships, and the difficulties and barriers to accessing support and advice.

Currently, we are have been working on:

• Developing a healthy relationships toolkit
• Delivering specialist training for the VAWG sector
• ​Creating a ‘Safe Space for Women’ website for Romani (Gypsy), Irish Traveller and Roma women
• Upskilling Romani (Gypsy), Irish Traveller and Roma women to become advocates in the VAWG sector”

We have a service level agreement with Solace Women’s Aid who have a dedicated Irish/Irish Traveller caseworker in London. In 2020 we launched a specialist domestic abuse helpline that is available for all Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller women looking for help in the UK. Our women’s workers can make direct referrals for assessment and support across the country.

Our domestic abuse helpline: 0754 1637 795

We can also offer advice and support on service development and consultancy nationally. For further information please contact our Senior Women’s Co-ordinator on women@travellermovement.org.uk or call the office on: 020 7607 2002 

We have created a map of domestic abuse services with experience in helping and working with Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller women in the UK. You can access the map here.

Our highly acclaimed online domestic abuse awareness training includes the viewing our film ‘Never Going To Beat You’ followed by a Zoom webinar training delivered by Traveller survivors. The training has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from service providers and professionals working across the women’s sector. If you are interested in the training please visit our training page here.

‘Never going to Beat You’ (NGTBY) is a Traveller Movement film about domestic abuse.

The project originally began as a community theatre project with eighteen Romany Gypsy and Minceir/Pavee (Irish Traveller) women who shared their stories of abuse with us to produce a play. Together with the late playwright Jennie Buckman from Giants theatre, NGTBY was created.

In 2018 we secured a small fund enabling us to work with Jennie and her son Michael Buckman (Crispy Biscuit Films), to develop a film version of the play. Jennie adapted the text into an original screenplay, which was then rehearsed and shot over a period of weeks. The characters in the film are portrayed by a mix of women and men from the Traveller Movement and professional actors.

Threading aspects of the women’s lives together, the film tells the story of 17-year-old Moira La Bas, who is about to sit her ‘A’ Levels when she meets Patrick, an older divorcee at a St Patrick’s Day dance. He woos her and wins her over, but Moira’s mother Evie foresees disaster and tries to rally the community to save her daughter.

‘Never Going to Beat You’ (15) was previewed on 7th March 2020 at Cinema Lumiere, Institut Francais in London and again at the Embassy of Ireland on the 19th September 2023.   Wider distribution plans for the film are on the way. We want the film to be used to educate and to generate discussion around domestic abuse.

“An important, poignant piece of theatre. It brought me to tears. This script telling stories from the community is incredibly powerful.”

Please contact women@travellermovement.org.uk for more information. 

Watch the film trailer: