Who we are

Casa delle donne per non subire violenza (Centre for women against violence) is an organisation founded in 1990 and managed by the homonymous association which has been working in co-operation and with the financial support of the Town and Province Councils of Bologna until the year 2000.

The shelter is a place where women can confront with the issue of violence and find counselling and support in making their choices. Any woman who has suffered or is suffering violence can come to the Centre, no matter what kind of abuse they are experiencing: psychological (threats, being shouted at, intimidation, being humiliated in front of others), physical (being punched, hit, shoved, kicked, beaten, assaulted with or without weapons, being deprived of the freedom to go home or to go out, to eat, to sleep, etc.), financial (being denied access to finances and/or to work, being forced to undersign legal or economical commitments, etc.), sexual (rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual coercion).

Casa delle donne consists of a public counselling centre, open during office hours – and two secret-address flats where women who are in need of emergency accommodation can find a safe shelter.
You can contact the Centre at 051-333173 during office hours to talk to one of our counselling operators. At all other times you will be able to leave a message on the Centre’s answering machine. All calls are managed with strict confidentiality: we can assure you that your personal details will not be disclosed to anyone.

The Centre offers the following services:

• Telephone counselling
• One-to-one support interviews for women seeking for specific advice or information (please contact the Centre to make an appointment).
• Individual counselling to support women’s decisions leaving a violent situation.
• Weekly “Forget yourself not” groups co-ordinated by the Centre’s counselling operators.
• Self-help and self-heal groups.
• Training programs for a range of voluntary and statutory agencies and service providers including- health professionals, social services, Police and various community groups.
• Access to bibliographic documentation and support for university degree thesis and research on the issue of violence against women.
• Meetings and discussion forums on specific issues brought about by Italian and foreign women.

Our refuges are intended to offer temporary emergency hospitality to women – both Italian and foreign, and their children – for a period of time that should allow them to end a situation of violence. The refuges are safe places where women can distance themselves from a violent relationship and regain their independence.

Many women have turned to our association over the last ten years, seeking both for hospitality and counselling. It is important for us not only to collect data regarding those women, but also to be able to use that data as a starting point to analyse the issue of violence against women from a gender-specific point of view, in order to falsify the most widespread stereotypes and common myths surrounding this issue.