No country is immune to Domestic violence or Gender based violence. Similar organizations such as Lyömätön Linja exist in other European countries. In October of 2019 Lyömätön Linja was able to visit two separate organizations that work with the phenomena of violence in Barcelona Spain.
We visited two different organizations who work with perpetrators of violence and with victims of violence.
The purpose of our visit was to share our experiences and see what we may have in common, and of course to learn from their expertise, methods and practices. Visiting such organizations in another country also gives us motivation and energy to go on in our own daily work. It gives us a boost, that we are doing very meaningful work.
The first organization that we visited was called Conexus. They are a non-profit organization that was founded in 2010, which offers specialized counselling programs for men suffering from relationship problems, or who have used violence within the relationship or family. Clients can come to the services of Conexus voluntarily or by referral if there has been a crisis in the relationship. Alternatively, other organizations such as social movements can refer clients to the services of Conexus. Conexus also offers men closed group activity which consist of ten to fifteen sessions based on themes such as, what is violence, the meaning of it to the men, masculinity and they also do mindfulness.
The second organization was called Exil. They are also a non-profit organization that was founded in 1976 and works with female victims of violence, children who have been victims of mistreatment, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Exil also works with people who have been exiled and are victims of war, persecution, violence or torture. Exil also runs groups for women who have suffered violence from Macho men.
Barcelona gave us nice weather, peaceful streets, beautiful Gaudi buildings, tasty tapas and plenty to remember here in November rain in Espoo.
Dwayne Woodroffe
Väkivaltatyön asiantuntija
Expert in Domestic Violence & Intervention Work
Lyömätön Linja Espoossa ry
For more information:
