SURT wins National Lottery funding to expand work with children and young people affected by relationship abuse

'Stopping Unsafe Relationships Together’ (SURT) was launched in South Tyneside in May 2021, co-founded by Claire Amans and Leanne Hansen in response to the reported increase of abuse within relationships during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March 2022 the not-for-profit organisation moved into its new hub in Frankling Street, South Shields, giving the team a base for their work.

Now SURT has been awarded National Lottery funding to expand its work with children and young people aged 11-24 who are affected by relationship abuse, such as intimate partner abuse, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, honor based abuse and stalking and harassment.

The team said the new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest funder of community activity in the UK, will allow SURT Support Specialists to deliver their Parenting And More Project (PAM) to help the community thrive.

Co-founder Claire said: “We understand the unique needs and challenges of the parents and carers who come to us for support.

"We are delighted the National Lottery Community Fund have acknowledged our expertise in working with parents and carers whose children have been affected by relationship abuse.

"Our parents and carers have asked for a specialist project which is specifically designed for them, they tell us we are a service that they trust and have confidence in and that we listen and understand their unique and challenging circumstances.

"Due to this funding we are now in a position to deliver the parenting skills, guidance and support they have asked for.”

Leanne Hansen added: “The parents and carers accessing SURT often come to us in crisis, they can feel exhausted, helpless and have reached out for support to ensure their children are safe from abusive relationships. Parents and carers want to be part of the solution and to do that, they want to be educated and involved in the process.

"They need to be helped to understand relationship abuse and learn different parenting strategies and ways of working with services and the community to better help protect their child from harm.

"We are excited to be able to deliver the PAM Project to the parents and carers of South Tyneside who need our support.”

Claire and Leanne said SURT is now embedded into the community of South Tyneside and is receiving astounding positive feedback from the children, young people and families it supports.

It has won support and praise from sponsors, partners and community members who Claire and Leanne say value the contribution the community interest company is making, to improve the safety and wellbeing of local children and young people.

SURT received an award at the #Love South Tyneside Award 2022 for their Outstanding Efforts in Demonstrating Community Spirit.

To find out more or contact SURT, visit https://wearesurt.org/ or search for their Facebook page.

Case study – how SURT helped one family

My daughter was referred to SURT through her social worker back for some work to help her understand what healthy safe relationships where and for some work around exploitation.

Before this referral was made, I didn’t know South Tyneside had a service like SURT within the local area and I was a little unsure of how this service would be able to offer support to my daughter giving the circumstances at the time.

Both me and my daughter where invited to the SURT hub for a little look around and to have a chat with them about the type of work and support that they could offer us as a family going forward, we were made to feel so welcome as soon as we entered the hub it just felt so safe and peaceful it made me feel content, I've worked with other services in South Tyneside and I have never felt welcomed the way surt welcomed us I felt the weight of the world leave when I walked through the door.

SURT set out a clear plan on the work that they would deliver to my daughter and fully explained what that would entail, they went through it all with me and made sure I fully understood it and then they got to work and started delivering the education program to my daughter.

After a few meetings with my daughter SURT identified that my daughter had some form of learning difficulties and they worked so hard to find a different way to deliver the same education program to her but in a way that she would fully understand the work that she was doing, this had a positive effect on my daughter and she was more engaged in the education program because SURT found a way to deliver it in a way she would understand it and I have never come across a service that would do that , and for that I'm forever grateful.

My daughter didn't understand anything about any forms of exploitation and she would shut off when I would I explain to her that this is what happened to her she would disengage and switch off but now she's working with SURT she fully understands what she's been though and how she was a victim of exploitation and this is because they deliver their education program in a way that suits everyone's individual needs.

I'm now confident that my daughter has the knowledge to be able to protect herself from further exploitation in the future I’m also confident that she now has the knowledge to know if anyone else is suffering due to being exploited that she would know how best to support them and point them into the right direction to getting some help and support from SURT .

Personally, for me SURT are earth angels they picked us up when we were at our lowest point with little to no support from anyone I felt at ease when I was chatting to SURT I felt safe in the hub and I felt able to express my concerns without judgement, I was able to vent my feelings without being penalized and that to me was amazing I knew at that point that we were going to get the best support we could possibly get and we absolutely did!

SURT have gone above and beyond for me they were a massive help for me as a parent when I was blaming myself and feeling like I had failed at my job to protect my daughter they made me understand that it wasn't my fault and that took a lot of weight of my shoulders there's no worse feeling than thinking you've failed to protect your child.

We are very lucky to have a service like SURT within South Tyneside we have other services but they don't put the passion into the work they deliver like surt do, the children and young people of south Tyneside who access services through SURT are very lucky and we'll thought of SURT have the passion and you see this shine through the education they deliver they really do work together to make it work and it certainly does.

I think children from all over should be able to have a service like SURT to turn to if they need help and support around safe and healthy relationships and exploitation it really makes a massive difference.

SURT have been the glue that has held me together as a parent of young vulnerable teenager who has special needs they have given me advice , they've supported me when I've needed support they've pointed me in the right direction when I've needed to seek further support from other agency's within south Tyneside but most off all they listened to me when no one else would.

SURT helped me out of the black whole I was in and helped me gain the confidence and skills I needed to be able to support my daughter and her siblings during our time of need.

I will forever be grateful to SURT for the compassion and support and I hope more families in my situation can gain the skills they need to help them in their time of need and I would fully recommend surt as they deliver a program like no other, angels you are thank you again for everything you are amazing.

SURT you are the best :)