Lochaber Women’s Aid Annual Report 2024–2025
As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we are sharing our Annual Report for 2024–2025 — a detailed look at the realities women and children faced in Lochaber this year, and the work carried out by our team to support them.
Domestic abuse remains a gendered crime. The patterns we see locally reflect what is seen nationally: coercive control, emotional abuse, financial restriction and physical harm continue to shape the lives of far too many women and children. Against this backdrop, our service provided essential, life-changing support throughout the year.
What This Year Looked Like
We supported 159 women and 68 children and young people, delivering 1401 support sessions across Lochaber. Our work ranged from safety planning and housing advocacy to financial assistance, legal support and emotional recovery. In a rural area where isolation can magnify risk, flexible outreach remained vital.
Our team also continued strengthening prevention work. Through 21 awareness sessions and 3 days at Lochaber High School’s health and wellbeing days, we reached 805 pupils across Lochaber’s secondary schools, providing education on healthy relationships, consent, red flags, misogyny and early warning signs of abuse. Young people consistently described the sessions as informative, engaging and easy to understand.
Women’s Experiences
The report highlights familiar and persistent patterns of abuse. Emotional abuse and coercive control were the most common experiences among women accessing our service. Many also faced financial abuse, physical harm, sexual abuse and increasing levels of digital control.
Women told us about the impact of this abuse — fear, instability, exhaustion, and the strain of managing everyday life under control and threat. They also told us what difference support made: being listened to, being believed, understanding what they had lived through, and feeling safe enough to begin rebuilding.
Children and Young People
Children and young people experienced or witnessed emotional and physical abuse, with clear effects on their wellbeing. Anxiety and confidence issues were the most common impacts, alongside attachment difficulties, boundary-testing behaviours and challenges in school. Our CYP team created consistent, trauma-informed spaces where children could talk, process and regain a sense of safety.
Group Work and Recovery
Own My Life continued to offer structured, reflective support for women recovering from abuse. Evaluations showed improvements across all wellbeing measures, including confidence, emotional wellbeing, understanding of abuse and sense of control. Women told us the programme helped them make sense of what they had lived through and feel more equipped to move forward.
Our family groups and. seasonal activities offered opportunities for connection, creativity and relief. For many children, these sessions provided rare moments of playfulness and stability.
Community Support
We could not deliver this work without the wider community. Donations, fundraising efforts and practical offers of support made a direct and tangible difference to women and children in crisis. Our thanks also go to the agencies we partnered with across housing, health, education, policing and the voluntary sector.
Looking Ahead
The demand for our service continues to grow, and the experiences shared by women and children reinforce the urgency of specialist, trauma-informed support. Our commitment remains the same: to provide safety, understanding and practical help to every woman, child and young person who needs us.
The full Annual Report can be accessed here:
We encourage anyone interested in understanding the realities of domestic abuse in Lochaber to take the time to explore it.
Together, we continue to work towards a community where women and children can live free from harm.
