Brief introduction for the Center for women against violence in Bologna (Italy)
The women’s organization named Casa delle donne per non subire violenza (Center for women against violence) was founded in 1990 and is managed by the homonymous NGO which has been working with the financial support of and in cooperation with the Town and Provincial Councils of Bologna.
The Center is a place where women can face the issue of violence and find counseling and support to their choices. Any woman who has suffered violence can turn to the Centre, no matter what kind of abuse she is undergoing: psychological (offences, blackmail, being humiliated in front of others), physical (slaps, strokes, wounds, being deprived of the freedom to go home or to go out, to eat, to sleep, etc.), economic (loss of the freedom to control or have access to money and/or to work, being forced to undersign legal or economical commitments, etc.), sexual (rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment).
Casa delle donne per non subire violenza is a structure including a public counseling center – located in via dell’Oro, 3, Bologna, open during office hours – and two secret-address flats where hospitality is offered to women and their children who are in need of emergency accommodation.
You can reach the Center at 051-333173, open 9-18 Monday to Thurday, 9-15 Friday, to talk to one of our counseling operators and make arrangements. All calls are taken in the strictest confidence: you can be sure the Center will never disclose your personal data to anyone.
The Centre offers the following services:
• Telephone counseling
• Individual counseling in support of the woman's decisions on her way out of violence
• Self-help and self-heal groups for women, coordinated by the Center's counseling operators
• Training programs for volunteers, social workers, professionals and police force members
• Documentation and support on university degree thesis and research on the issue of violence against women
• Meetings and discussion sessions about specific issues brought about by Italian as well as foreign women
• Women in trafficking.
Our shelters are intended to offer emergency hospitality on a temporary basis to women – both Italian and foreign, on their own or together with their underage children – for a period of time that should allow them to come out of the situation of violence. The refuges are safe places where women can take the distance from a violent relationship and regain their independence.
Many women have turned to our association over the last 15 years, seeking for help. It is important for us not only to collect data regarding those women, but also to use that data as a starting point to analyze the phenomenon of violence against women from a gender-specific point of view, with the aim of confuting the most widespread stereotypes and common places usually associated with it.