Paige told us the story of her encounter with her ex-partner that led to her being hospitalised.
She began by telling us that her life had always been “like a rollercoaster”. She said that her family had always been very controlling. Paige stated that this knocked her confidence and made her feel anxious when meeting new people. This meant that finding a partner had always been difficult for her.
Paige met her partner through a common dating app and said, at first everything was good. She let Paige meet her little girl and they became quite attached. They would often go on days out together and life was really looking up but, thing soon began to turn.
It began with little things like insisting on looking through her phone at messages and pictures. Paige didn’t think anything of this due to her childhood and the way she was brought up; she had nothing to hide.
It wasn’t until she began talking to her sister Amy about it and Amy tried to convince Paige that the behaviour, she was experiencing wasn’t okay. Looking back, Paige said she was in “the denial stage” so wouldn’t accept it.
A few weeks transpired and they got into another argument. This time more physical. She pushed Paige to the floor and kicked her in the stomach. An ambulance was called, and Paige was taken into hospital. It was at this point she realised enough was enough.
It was payday in a few days, so Paige begged the hospital staff to keep her in. After payday Paige could afford to look for some temporary housing but, the hospital said no. Paige proceeded to explain the situation that she was in and once she had declared that she was fleeing from domestic abuse the hospital staff went above and beyond to make sure she was looking after. They said “you’re on antibiotics anyways so we’ll have to monitor your recovery” – this was their excuse to keep her in.
During her time in hospital, she received a number of nasty texts from her partner “I wish you were dead” “next time you won’t be so lucky”. It was then that she decided there was no going back, and the hospital referred Paige to Valley House.
Since joining Valley House Paige said, “they have been amazing”. My support worker “Helped me with my mental health and helped mould me into a new person”.
Paige’s final word of advice was “Don’t be scared to reach out for help, I know it’s a scary process and a long road to go down but, once you’re 6 months down the line you’re going to feel so much better”.
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Find out more about how Valley House can help – Domestic Abuse
