अनुलिपि 🔗
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>> Wo0: Welcome to don't fucking Tell me what to wear or how to
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run my business. This is the
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Woopod.
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>> Lucy: Your safety is paramount. I would always say that people trust
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your gut because you are the person who has lived this. So if you
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feel that you're not safe, don't let anyone tell you
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otherwise.
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>> Wo0: I'm your host, Wendy Gannon, but most people call me
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Woo. I'm a photographer, adhder,
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female advocate, and let's be honest, an all
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round legend. Can you tell I didn't write this
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script?
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This podcast is part of Female5Million, a
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movement founded to empower women to step the up,
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take control, and unapologetically own their
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space. It all started
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with some fucking Jean's LinkedIn post
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spouting some sexist about how women should dress
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to succeed in business. And you know what?
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Stuff like that really fucks me
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off. It really fucks me off.
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So I posted about it and that post ignited
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something bigger. A nationwide photography project,
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a full blown fucking movement. And now this
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podcast here on the Woopod,
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we're raising the voices of women who refuse to be told what to
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do. Women who are done playing by the rules and are now
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saying, don't fucking tell me what to wear or how to run my
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business. If you've ever been told to tone it down,
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dress more appropriately or. Or run your business like a
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man, fuck that.
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Expect raw, unfiltered conversations with women
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who have fought through sexism, abuse, and
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outdated patriarchal bullshit to build success on their terms.
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all whilst wearing whatever the fuck they want.
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Oh, and there's more swearing than our producer is willing to
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beep out. Sorry, buckers. Speaking of
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which, you'll probably hear me ask producer Bacchus to chime
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in from time to time, because like, I give a shit
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what she says. We've both got adhd. We bounce well off each
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other. Deal it. We're here
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to celebrate women doing business their way and shine a spotlight
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on the incredible ways women are fighting back and lifting each other
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up. Because, to be honest, that's what it's all about.
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And for those who aren't able to speak up right now,
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for whatever reason. I see you.
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Okay, let's crack on then.
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So, Lisi, can you give
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us a.
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>> Lucy: Quick intro of who you are and.
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>> Wo0: What you do, please?
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>> Lucy: Yes. So, I am a former criminal justice
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professional, so I've worked in various different things, including
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I did a brief sprint stint in the prisons.
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I was a probation officer, including, in case
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management and in, I worked
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in the Courts as well. So I left an abusive relationship
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myself. so I've got kind of first hand experience of that
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and I now make podcasts because
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why not?
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>> Wo0: And we met, we met
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like on LinkedIn. But it was all very quick,
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wasn't it? We met on LinkedIn and you were like, can you
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come on my podcast? and I was like,
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yeah, no.
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>> Lucy: No, no beating around the boat.
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>> Wo0: and emotional support, background noise. Like if
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you haven't listened to it, go and listen to it. My,
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My episode was over two
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weeks and it was the most
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chaotic episode. Was it something like
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that?
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>> Lucy: So don't get me wrong, all like we love and appreciate all of our
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guests but you, you did make me cry during your
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episode. It was it was a particularly good one. So yeah, we
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enjoyed that.
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>> Wo0: Makes me happy. But I was going to come back on, wasn't I and get
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my, like, yeah, I won't talk about what I was going to
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do on this podcast because we haven't got
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that humour here.
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So why did you get involved in the female 5 million
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project?
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>> Lucy: Well, really I think I am quite
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interested in kind of people who are putting
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work into reducing the stigma of lived
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experience issues. Because I think one of the things for me was like when
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I was because I was homeless due to domestic abuse and when I was going
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through that situation I almost kind of. And I knew, I knew this wasn't the
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case because I'd worked in that area, but it felt to me almost as
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if like I was the only one who this has happened to. And so like
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when, when you hear the stories from other people and these are just normal
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people as well, these are women
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who you see in the street, these are women who you
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would find inspirational, you know, and it's, it's not like
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a, you know, it's not like I see the underbelly unfortunately this is a,
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this is an issue that you know, affects a lot of us and so
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like for then people to be coming through that and then making
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projects, we're actually like, we're celebrating what it is to be
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women, you know and you know,
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sort of like to not, not kind of just be controlled like that
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anymore. I just like, you know, I think it's very cool and so I was very
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privileged to kind of take part in that really. So, so thank you, thank
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you for coming along.
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>> Wo0: So you came to the London studio shoot
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and just smashing
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you up. You're just great. And the outfit that
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you wore was one of my favourites,
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which was Great.
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>> Lucy: No comment.
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>> Wo0: So you wanted to come onto the podcast and talk
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to us about something specific, didn't you? Can you let us know what that
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is?
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>> Lucy: Yeah. So I think one of the things
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that I learned as a justice professional
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was about the kind of signs of abuse.
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I think sometimes when people are going through relationships that they might
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find difficult, I think they don't always necessarily understand
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the risk that they're at. One of the things that helped keep
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me safe when I left domestic and when I was experiencing
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domestic abuse was my knowledge
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of the risk factors involved in that. Because I
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think obviously the, the stats are quite high. Well,
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I mean, to be fair, like, any one dying from domestic abuse is
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too high. Let's just make that clear for a second.
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But, obviously the fact I think it was it like two
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women a week is just, you know, that to me
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is like. Well, yeah, and it's, it's, you know,
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it's a, it's a large scale problem. And
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so I think that like, we need more knowledge
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of like, people being able to say, okay, like I really am at risk here.
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Because I think sometimes, like, we don't even. Especially when you're with
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people who are quite psychologically abusive and they're, they're very good at like
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twisting their narrative may perhaps making you feel like you're in the
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wrong. You, you struggle to
really kind of understand the danger
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that you're in. And so, yeah, so I just wanted to kind of run for a few
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resources really, because, and I think especially like,
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unfortunately, I, mean I'm not going to speak too much on this because
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of litigation I'm going through, but
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justice professionals don't unfortunately take people seriously
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as well. So I think it's the knowledge that you need to kind of almost be able to
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advocate for yourself and say, you know, if help isn't
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forthcoming. Well, okay, well, like I need to make a safety plan
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for myself. Whether that involves help or whether that is, you
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know, on a personal basis, how can I keep myself
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safe?
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>> Wo0: Amazing. So what are these resources?
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>> Lucy: So, yeah, I think the first one I'd like
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to briefly, speak about
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is something that we would use as justice
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professionals called a dash checklist. so it's
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not like, you know, it's not. These aren't kind
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of like massive secrets. These are just kind of like
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tools that anyone can go and look at.
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so basically it's just a, it's a multiple choice
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questionnaire. So when I say it's called a dash
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checklist, this Is spelled dash as in D A, S,
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H, like, dashing through the snow. I don't know what you want
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to call that. But so you. But
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yeah. so it's a multiple choice questionnaire.
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And basically,
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we would use this as justice professionals. If someone disclosed
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that they were going through abuse and then, whether or
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they got a certain amount of ticks would be whether or not they were
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referred to sort of like higher levels of support.
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So essentially like, there are meetings and things where we say,
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okay, so this woman is at a risk of domestic
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homicide. And so you can refer them to
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that. so generally speaking this will be done with
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someone because of a specific incident, if you know what
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I mean. So, it will say like, has the current
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incident resulted in injury? and
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so I'd like to kind of say, like, obviously domestic abuse
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does not necessarily mean physical abuse. but this is
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obviously, this is assessing the risk of domestic
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homicide. are you very frightened
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is one of them. I think essentially
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sometimes we call it like the victim's intuitive sense of
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fear. And so like, I think anyone who's
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kind of been in an abusive relationship can kind of
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understand where this is coming from is sometimes you almost
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like you pick up on like signs from that person
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and do you. Do you know where I'm coming from? And so it's like
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you kind of know.
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>> Wo0: Yeah, I know exactly where you're coming from. Yeah. There
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was like a look in the eyes or there was like,
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you just know what, you just know when shit's gonna go
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down.
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>> Lucy: Certain body language.
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>> Wo0: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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>> Lucy: No, you do, you do, you really do. And m. And
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then it's kind of almost like the roulette wheel of what's going to be the thing
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that actually, you know, precipitates the, the
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incident. so it says, what are you afraid of as well?
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So, is it further injury or violence? and so sometimes
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like people, perpetrators can make threats, in
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terms of like trying to control that woman's behaviour. So they
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may or not may not be real, but I think like, they need to be taken
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seriously because even if it's not indicative of actual harm,
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it's indicative of the level of fear that this perpetrator has
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created for that victim to be living.
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>> Wo0: Yeah, so, so I had. If you like,
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I'm gonna burn, your house down if you don't
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leave, like, if you don't
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sneak out and go from my friend's
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house, I will go and burn your house down. That kind of
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thing.
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>> Lucy: Well, one of the Things that was said to me a lot was that, you
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know, it was threats to harm my dog. So I'm going to throw your dog in the
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street. Or I've, you know, when, or, was it,
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oh, I've called the rspca, they're coming to get your dog
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now. You better come back to the house. you know, just, just empty, you
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know, but then, you know, and you hear other things as well, like, you know, if
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I'm gonna harm, I'll go and harm your
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parent or something. Like, you know, so it could be anything, really. It's
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like the. It's very broad. and then are you depressed or having
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suicidal thoughts? So again, it's just kind of like indicative of
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what is the emotional harm that's been caused to this
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person. have you separated or
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tried to separate from your abuser within the past
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year? So I think one. Well, it's
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not. I think that the high risk, highest risk time
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for a victim of domestic abuse is when they leave that
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perpetrator. essentially that is
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when the control has been,
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threatened. And often, often, like, you know,
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perpetrators are dependent on their victims
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for various things, in terms of like, you know, I
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don't know, housework, money. However, they've kind of like
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arranged that relationship to be. And so they, you know, because
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the control has been threatened, they
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then, you know, obviously don't like that.
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so is there conflict over child contact? I think. I mean,
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I've got no experience of this myself, but I can't even imagine
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what that's like for, people who have to go through that. I mean, I was
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really lucky, the.
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>> Wo0: Fact that he just didn't bother. So. Thank
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you.
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>> Lucy: I think, I think children can often be
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weaponized. Yeah.
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>> Wo0: 100.
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>> Lucy: I think, as well, we need. It's important to recognise that,
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like, emotion, like, children suffer emotional harm just from being
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in homes where there is domestic abuse. They don't have to be there, you
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know, and kids pick up on things as well. So I'm not trying to
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make victims feel guilty in any way, because victims are not, but
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it's just something to bear in mind. You know, your kids might, you
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know, lie away, you know, be in bed, but they can still hear
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things.
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>> Wo0: And they pick up on your. Like, they pick up on your stress
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and everything, don't they?
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>> Lucy: They do, yeah, they do. so it
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does, Is.
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Does the abuser constantly text, call,
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contact, follow, stalk or harass you?
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so I suppose it's, you know, like, if you go to,
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you you know, you've gone out with a friend or something, and you're getting
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constant text messages or that phone ringing over and over and over
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and over and over until you. You pick it up. After I've experienced that, it's actually
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quite horrible, to be honest. is the abuse happening more often? So
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this is, one of the signs as well. So I think abuse is often
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quite cyclical. So it's not, you know,
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because things at the end of day, if abusive people were always
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abusive, they wouldn't be in a relationship to the
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first at all. So it generally is
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a cycle. And you'll see those steps of. After
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a huge incident, you'll then have a honeymoon period, and then
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things will start to go downhill again. So I think one
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of the big warning signs is when that circle almost
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gets smaller, so there's more incidents
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occurring. so I think as well that can quite often
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coincide with perhaps, maybe things
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happening externally outside the relationship. So
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perhaps the perpetrator is having a deterioration in his
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mental health. Perhaps there' more pressures. so, like, financial
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pressures, for example. And so obviously that
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then sort of like, you know, puts more pressure on
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the relationship. so
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do they try to control everything you
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do? So again, again, like, don't try not to take this too literally
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because, like, everything you do obviously don't control everything you do. But I
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think sometimes when you've left a controlling relationship, you
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actually, you kind of like, almost, bit by bit, become
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adjusted to almost like a series of rules.
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And once you've, like, learned the series of rules and the, like, the
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goalposts change, then it's like, so, like, so folks,
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like, for example, I don't talk too much about my experiences
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because I don't really want to upset the apple cart.
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But, in terms of. So first of all, it
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was like, I wasn't allowed to use the dishwasher.
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And then it was, the plates have to be
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stacked in a certain way. And then, you know, and then. And then you
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go, someone's screaming in your face. Because you've got. The
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entire kitchen is clean, but there's one plate which is on the side next to the
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sink. And you kind of think, hold on a minute. Like, you know, I
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could have used a dishwasher. Yeah, like, like why we. You know.
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But, yeah, and so it's like. It was almost like the rules
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kind of stack up a lot. And. Because it's not about. It's
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not about the dishwasher, is it? It's just. It's about,
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like, control and
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then obviously there are other things in relationships that we can
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see. So like honour based
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violence is something that it flags up here. So it could be to
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do with you know, people's religious beliefs or you know,
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views. perhaps some more extreme patriarchal
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societies, perhaps like Middle Eastern countries for
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example where they have kind of higher
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expectations of how women should
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behave.
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so yeah, and then so some other ones.
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Has the abuser ever attempted to strangle,
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choke, suffocate or drown you? I think the number
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one sign, the abuser will go on to kill
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a woman. Perhaps not the number one sign. That's a bit of a bold claim. I'm not sure I
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can back that up, but is one of the biggest signs
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is someone who, who strangles their
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partner. so that is a, especially
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obviously in a non consensual situation. so that
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is absolutely, you know, if that has happened to you, you
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00:14:32
need to be concerned about your safety. yeah. So
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00:14:34
saying things of a sexual nature that make you feel bad or that
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00:14:37
physically hurts you or someone else.
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00:14:40
So I think, you know, I think in this day and age we've all kind of come to
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00:14:43
the conclusion that rape can occur
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00:14:46
within relationships. You know, it's not. It's
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00:14:48
not. And you know, statistically it's most likely to occur
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00:14:51
within relationships just because, you know, you need to always ensure that you have
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00:14:54
consent. It doesn't matter whether this is your girlfriend, wife, partner,
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00:14:57
you know, boyfriend, you, you need
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00:15:00
to consent. So mistreating animals,
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00:15:03
again is a, is a big one.
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00:15:06
it says are there any financial issues?
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00:15:09
number 21. So this is this is a really interesting one because it's
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00:15:12
also one of the leading signs that we find in
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00:15:15
baby deaths as well. Without being too morbid. Sorry.
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00:15:18
But so it's. Has the abuser
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00:15:21
had any problems in the past year with drugs, alcohol or
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00:15:24
mental health leading to problems, in leading a normal
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00:15:26
life? So we've got drugs, alcohol and
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00:15:29
mental health. And so that's actually called within social
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00:15:32
work that's called the toxic trio. So you have
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00:15:35
mental health problems plus drug and alcohol problems plus
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00:15:38
domestic abuse. Within the home. They are the
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00:15:41
highest risk factors for a child to to be
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00:15:44
killed. and again like I don't want anyone listening
to
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00:15:47
this to think I'm m judgmental about people with mental health problems or even
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00:15:50
you know, with drug and alcohol problems because it doesn't mean,
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00:15:52
because you suffer from these that you are an Abusive person.
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00:15:56
It just means these are features within
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00:15:58
cases or studies we've looked into where these
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00:16:01
offences have occurred. So it doesn't necessarily mean because you have, that
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00:16:04
you are an abuser, if you see what I mean. and then.
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00:16:07
Yeah, so the final two are ah,
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00:16:09
breaking bail, or non
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00:16:12
molestation orders. I think that is kind of key
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00:16:15
feature in this kind of personality type. So it's almost like if you
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00:16:18
kind of set a boundary so you try to block that person or you
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00:16:20
know, you take out a protective order and they're like
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00:16:23
no. And they push against that.
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00:16:26
And finally, have they ever been in trouble with the police
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00:16:29
or have a criminal history? So again,
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00:16:32
that one, it doesn't always mean
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00:16:35
that a lot of the time, you know, abuse occurs and
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00:16:38
people don't call the police. So they may well have a history of abusing other
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00:16:41
women and they've never come to the detention of the police at all.
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00:16:43
>> Wo0: Yeah.
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00:16:44
>> Lucy: You know, and, but again these are all
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00:16:47
just sort of like things you can kind of like reflect on within your own
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00:16:50
relationship. So just kind of say if you're already kind of feeling a bit unsafe
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00:16:53
but you're, you're kind of like, well, am I, you know, because
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00:16:56
I don't know if you've ever thought this, but sometimes I think, oh, am I being a bit
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00:16:58
oversensitive? Like I'm, I just. Am I to
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00:17:01
blame or like, you know, or anything? Like, you know, am I, am I
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00:17:04
crazy? yeah.
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00:17:05
>> Wo0: So I, I never
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00:17:08
thought that I was hit enough or
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00:17:11
abused enough or
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00:17:14
raped enough for it to matter.
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00:17:18
Just like the people would believe me. Like there's like.
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00:17:21
Because it was within the,
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00:17:24
the our bed at home, like
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00:17:26
not come lock look trigger warning you're not kicking and
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00:17:29
screaming like in a park or something like
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00:17:32
that, that it, that it didn't matter.
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00:17:35
>> Lucy: So.
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00:17:39
>> Wo0: It, this is really good for people to realise
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00:17:42
that, that any, any abuse is not
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00:17:44
okay and, and that you can get help and
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00:17:47
it all does matter and
you matter. And.
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00:17:51
>> Lucy: Yeah, no, definitely. And I think I would encourage people
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00:17:54
to go, anyone who is concerned about, I
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00:17:57
mean obviously like that, you know, there is the tagline like love should
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00:18:00
hurt. And that is just a fundament, you know, for anyone.
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00:18:03
But I would encourage people to go and Google something called the
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00:18:06
power and control wheel because domestic abuse is such
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00:18:09
a spectrum of behaviours and a lot of
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00:18:11
these behaviours, aren't physical abuse. So there isn't.
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00:18:14
So. But there are also things that we would consider
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00:18:17
under a risk assessment. We would consider Physical abuse, it doesn't necessarily
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00:18:20
mean that they have made contact with you as an
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00:18:22
individual. So, for example, if someone is
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00:18:25
ranting and raving at you for hours on end while you sit
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00:18:28
there like, you know, like spewing like bile
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00:18:31
at you, and you just kind of like, you know, you feel like you're covered in oil
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00:18:34
afterwards with just, just their hatred. Like,
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00:18:37
say, say you spoke up and then that person then picks
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00:18:40
something up and then throw something at the wall because you've tried to talk
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00:18:43
back, that is considered physical abuse. If someone
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00:18:46
punches a wall next to your head, that is considered physical
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00:18:48
abuse because it's a physical act that's intended to maintain
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00:18:51
control of that situation or to elicit
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00:18:54
fear within a victim. So, you know, and these
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00:18:57
things you kind of like, and especially like abusers will say things like, oh,
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00:19:00
I've never hit. I've never hit anyone. It's like, well, that's irrelev. It's
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00:19:03
irrelevant. As criminal justice professionals, that would be
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00:19:06
irrelevant to their risk. You know, we would look at the entire
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00:19:09
situation and, you know, a lot of the time
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00:19:12
there are without, you know, wanting to be fear mongering. This isn't
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00:19:15
about fear mongering. This is just about people being equipped with the
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00:19:18
information they need to keep themselves safe. There are abusers
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00:19:20
where, you know, they don't nest. You know, they act
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00:19:23
aggressively, but it isn't,
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00:19:26
it isn't like a red mist, kind of reactive. You know, someone's
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00:19:29
lost control and they're punching bottles. It is a very
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00:19:31
calculated use of physical abuse, such as throwing something at
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00:19:34
a wal. in order to mains, as I say,
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00:19:37
to maintain a, control over that situation. They haven't, they haven't lost
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00:19:40
control, you know, so.
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00:19:43
Yeah.
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00:19:44
but no. Was it. Was there any questions about that at all?
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00:19:47
>> Wo0: I haven't got any questions because I can see it
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00:19:50
all. Do you know what I mean? Because I, because I've been there,
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00:19:53
so I can see it.
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00:19:55
>> Lucy: If someone isn't sure you can reach out
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00:19:58
to. I would, I would encourage people to reach out to. If you don't want to
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00:20:01
speak to the police, perhaps. so there are IDVA
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00:20:04
services, so it's independent domestic violence advocates.
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00:20:07
there were. They will have them in every area of the
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00:20:10
uk. And I mean, there was one who spoke to me, who she
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00:20:12
called. She called me randomly. so I must have left a voicemail
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00:20:15
without knowing it. And she spoke to me. This was on a Sunday afternoon for about
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00:20:18
an hour. And like, she was like an angel, honestly, like,
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00:20:21
I'VE never just, you know, it just came at exactly the right
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00:20:24
time. And you don't have to
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00:20:27
pursue a prosecution in order to get support.
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00:20:31
Okay. If you are seeing these signs within relationships. So the
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00:20:34
police can do things, you know, they can give you a panic alarm, they can do,
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00:20:37
they can give you lots of support without you necessarily having to
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00:20:39
pursue a conviction in court. So please, like, please just bear that in
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00:20:42
mind. You know, your, your safety is paramount. And I think I would always say to
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00:20:45
people, trust your gut because you are the person who has lived this, you have
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00:20:48
lived this pattern, you've lived this cycle. So if you, if you feel that you're not
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00:20:51
safe, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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00:20:53
>> Wo0: You know, I think with neurodivergent people
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00:20:56
as well, it's like another
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00:20:59
layer, isn't it? Because there's the people pleasing
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00:21:02
that goes on top of that. so
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00:21:05
I thought that I had to be something that I
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00:21:08
thought that they wanted.
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00:21:11
Don't ask me how I knew that. And then it
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00:21:14
wasn't. So I didn't ever call the police, I
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00:21:17
didn't ever tell anybody. I, there were some friends
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00:21:19
that knew, but they knew both of us. and
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00:21:22
I'm m talking about both relationships now because there was like a,
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00:21:25
a ten year
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00:21:28
narcissistic relationship with like
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00:21:32
financial, abuse, like all of it. And that was worse than the
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00:21:35
physical. So I completely get that it's
domestic
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00:21:37
abuse, it's not all violent. and I
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00:21:40
didn't tell anybody, I didn't get any support.
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00:21:43
So the best places to go would be the ID for
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00:21:46
service. Yeah.
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00:21:47
>> Lucy: And then there'll be, there'll be charities as well, you know, like,
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00:21:50
and these will differ area to area. But I think
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00:21:53
what we're starting to realise more and more in the justice system
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00:21:56
is I think it's, it's trying to give control back
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00:21:59
to victims because that's, that kind of. The
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00:22:02
point is when you've been in a relationship like this, you don't want to feel that
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00:22:05
choices are being taken out of your hands.
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00:22:08
So. And I think, I think kind of what you're describing is almost like the fawn
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00:22:11
response, which is very, very common in victims of
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00:22:14
domestic abuse. So it's as you say, it's that people pleasing. So
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00:22:17
it's like, okay, well you almost like create that set of rules. So it
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00:22:20
might, you know, when you say controlling behaviour, I think
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00:22:22
perpetrators have not necessarily said like,
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00:22:25
you must do this. You know, there's no Ten Commandments written on A
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00:22:28
whiteboard in your house saying, you must live by this. But actually what it
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00:22:31
is, is it's almost like a Pavlov dog of
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00:22:33
conditioning, where you realise that when you do this thing, that man
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00:22:36
becomes angry, so. Or woman or
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00:22:39
person becomes angry, and so
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00:22:42
you make a mental note of it in your head and
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00:22:45
you, you know, just don't do that thing.
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00:22:47
And then, as I say, but then it, you know, the. The
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00:22:50
goalpost move. So I think it's actually, and especially when it's. When
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00:22:53
we look at it in that cycle, because there are always, like, highs.
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00:22:56
And so you kind of think, like, you know, this person on a good
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00:22:59
day, you know, they're so, like,
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00:23:01
wonderful. You know, within that trauma bond, the highs are
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00:23:04
so high within these relationships that you think, if only I just do
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00:23:07
X, Y, Z. And, you know, that's how you start to blame yourself.
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00:23:10
So, No, yeah, I completely understand. With people, I
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00:23:13
think neurodivergent people are at higher risk of
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00:23:17
being in an abusive relationship. I think
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00:23:20
quite often I've seen a statistic that
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00:23:23
especially autistic women are quite often
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00:23:25
subject to abuse. I don't
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00:23:28
know why that is. I don't know if it's to do with, dynamics of
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00:23:31
grooming or, you know, perhaps, you know, isolation, not
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00:23:34
having that support in their younger years, finding it harder to make friendships. So
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00:23:37
you're more easily sucked in by a lot. But no, definitely, it
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00:23:40
does. It does, as you say, add that, aspect.
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00:23:42
>> Wo0: It's. It's mad, right, that
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00:23:46
you can't sometimes specifically
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00:23:48
pinpoint that someone has been abusive
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00:23:51
or. But you know, you know that you just feel crap. They're
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00:23:54
doing this stuff to you, but you can't say to
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00:23:57
somebody, this is going on
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00:23:59
because there's like. Like you say, there's no tank. Like, there's
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00:24:02
no. It's not written down anywhere.
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00:24:06
How can people, like. I
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00:24:09
don't know, how can people understand that they're
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00:24:11
not just going mad like that. That
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00:24:14
is a part of the whole abuse thing as well.
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00:24:18
>> Lucy: Well, I think. I think, to be honest, it is
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00:24:21
difficult when you're in that relationship. So I think a lot of
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00:24:24
the time, Because the thing is, I. I was a domestic abuse lead, so I feel
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00:24:27
like I don't. I don't want to sound stupid, but, you know, I had full. All
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00:24:30
of this knowledge of abusive relationships, you know, and these dynamics,
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00:24:33
and I still live that for years. Yeah. So, you
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00:24:35
know, I've always. I wouldn't want people to sit there
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00:24:38
feeling guilty or that they're not safeguarding themselves properly
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00:24:41
because denial is strong, like, you know, and then, you know,
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00:24:44
and also, you know, psychological manipulation can happen to
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00:24:47
absolutely anyone, you know, so it
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00:24:49
is tough. But I think ultimately, like, if you. I
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00:24:52
think the great thing about these tools like.
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00:24:55
Like this dash checklist is it gives something
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00:24:58
tangible, so. Because it is precisely that a lot of the time,
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00:25:01
the controlling dynamics are so hard for you to kind of vocalise.
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00:25:04
>> Wo0: Yeah.
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00:25:04
>> Lucy: It then gives an assessment for professionals to be
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00:25:07
able to say, okay, well, these are the things that we. We need
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00:25:10
to actually really see what danger in here. And so
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00:25:13
they can elicit that from you rather than you kind of having to explain
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00:25:16
it. Does that make sense?
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00:25:17
>> Wo0: Yeah.
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00:25:18
>> Lucy: So it gives them the framework.
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00:25:19
>> Wo0: Yeah. But there's got to be like an incident before that happens,
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00:25:22
right?
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00:25:23
>> Lucy:
I mean. I mean, generally speaking, that is
Speaker:
00:25:26
when there will be an incident
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00:25:28
in order to make. And when I say incident, it doesn't
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00:25:31
necessarily have to be like a physical abuse incident. It might just be, you know, a
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00:25:34
frightening evening where you kind of. It, you know, put
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00:25:37
something in your head that actually, you know, this, this. Something's not right here, so it doesn't
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00:25:40
have to be, but it just. Generally speaking, that is, you know, there's
Speaker:
00:25:43
usually something that makes someone come forward. So, yeah, it doesn't, it
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00:25:46
doesn't have to be. No, it could just be, you know, like, you know, it could just be
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00:25:49
it's gone away for a week and you've kind of had time and to kind
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00:25:52
of let the dust settle and go. Actually, you know, I don't, you know,
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00:25:55
I don't feel like this is right and I want to leave this
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00:25:57
relationship.
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00:25:59
>> Wo0: Yeah. Oh, bless you. Thanks, Lucy.
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00:26:06
>> Lucy: Could I speak a bit about this. This
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00:26:09
model?
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00:26:10
>> Wo0: Absolutely. Yes, you can speak about this model.
Speaker:
00:26:13
>> Lucy: Very keen.
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00:26:14
>> Wo0: Please do.
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00:26:15
>> Lucy: Thank you. So, when
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00:26:18
a person, is.
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00:26:21
Their life is taken by a domestic abuse perpetrator, generally
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00:26:24
speaking, what happens is we would have, within justice systems, so
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00:26:27
they would go through, any
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00:26:29
agency, any agency
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00:26:32
contact that this person has had, whether that's. And
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00:26:35
I think that's both with the perpetrator and the victim.
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00:26:38
So quite often they may be known to social services, the perpetrator may
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00:26:41
have been known to probation services and so forth. So the
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00:26:43
idea is that, like justice
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00:26:46
agencies can have almost like lessons learned from
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00:26:49
where we've gone wrong and where we could have. And to be honest, you
Speaker:
00:26:51
know, it's difficult because ultimately that
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00:26:54
person has committed that crime, not the justice agency. So it is difficult.
Speaker:
00:26:57
But Ultimately, sometimes there are lessons learned where we could say, well actually if this
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00:27:00
were to happen again, we can do this. And this is a procedure
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00:27:03
we can change to safeguard that person or people in the future.
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00:27:06
So it is a good thing that
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00:27:09
we do. But from these,
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00:27:12
they've brought out a eight step
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00:27:14
timeline within domestic homicides. and
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00:27:17
so this is kind of like almost like a
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00:27:20
framework. so again, if you notice any of these signs,
Speaker:
00:27:23
it's probably something where you should probably go. Even if there isn't an
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00:27:26
immediate incident, this should be kind of raising things in
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00:27:29
your mind that you're like, okay, well you know, I need to kind of like
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00:27:32
seek support here, whether or not that means you go to the police for a
Speaker:
00:27:35
conviction. But I, I need help here.
Speaker:
00:27:38
So. Yeah, so the first stage is a
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00:27:40
pre relationship history of stalking or abuse
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00:27:43
by the perpetrator. is it's very, very
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00:27:46
common for abusive partners to have had
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00:27:49
a previous abusive relationships. You know, is, it doesn't
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00:27:52
come out of nowhere. I think, you know, there may be
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00:27:54
a very odd case where perhaps someone has a mental
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00:27:57
breakdown out of nowhere. But I think generally speaking,
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00:28:00
this kind of domestic abuse, it is, there will be a history of
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00:28:03
it. women can apply to
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00:28:05
your police station under Claire's Law, for
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00:28:08
any information on that perpetrator. You can do that, you can do that
Speaker:
00:28:11
without them knowing. So it just, basically it's
Speaker:
00:28:14
just almost like a background check. Does this, does this person
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00:28:17
have any history of domestic abuse? They may not, they may
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00:28:20
not known to agencies. But, so that's just something you
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00:28:23
could do to safeguard yourself if you were concerned.
Speaker:
00:28:26
so yeah, step two, which is something unfortunately I've had to kind of
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00:28:29
like reflect on myself. So it's the, the romance
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00:28:32
develops quickly into a serious relationship, I
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00:28:35
think especially with neurodivergent people. Like,
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00:28:38
I don't know about you, but I definitely have like, I'll be
Speaker:
00:28:41
like, oh, instant best friends. Or like, you know, even, even you said about
Speaker:
00:28:44
the podcast kind of went from 0 to 100. We kind of met. We're like, come
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00:28:46
on. And so I know, is
Speaker:
00:28:49
something that we can all kind of relate to. but it is, it is
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00:28:52
quite a red flag, unfortunately. you know, it's a sign of,
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00:28:55
the relationship, is moving too
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00:28:57
quickly. so that would be stage two.
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00:29:01
stage three is the relationship becomes dominated.
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00:29:03
>> Wo0: It's just my life.
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00:29:05
>> Lucy: I know, I know.
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00:29:08
Yeah. And yeah, so step three, the relationship
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00:29:11
becomes dominated by coercive control.
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00:29:14
So as we said it's almost like, heard a good
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00:29:16
description. So it was like the frog in the hot. In the
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00:29:19
boiling pan or whatever it is. So, you know, like,
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00:29:22
the water gets hotter and hotter and hotter, but the frog doesn't necessarily
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00:29:25
acknowledge it until like the water's boiling. And I think that's a
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00:29:28
really good metaphor for coercive control. So it's
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00:29:30
like it becomes more, escalated over
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00:29:33
time. So stage four, a trigger
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00:29:36
threatens the perpetrator's control.
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00:29:39
So for example, the relationship ends or the
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00:29:42
perpetrator gets into financial difficulty.
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00:29:45
So within the model, I think you could
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00:29:48
stay in that coercive control stage for quite a long time. But this
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00:29:51
is when, as I was saying before, like, something externally
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00:29:54
might occur and it threatens essentially, you know, like the mental
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00:29:57
health of this perpetrator might decline. Their behaviours become more
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00:29:59
extreme. As a, you know, I'm
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00:30:02
m not going to try and justify it because it's like, you know, there's no
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00:30:05
justification to it, but you can. Anyone who's been in an
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00:30:08
abusive relationship will kind of know what I'm referring to here.
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00:30:11
So, yeah, again, step five is escalation.
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00:30:14
So it's increase in the intensity or frequency
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00:30:17
of the control tactics. So that cycle of abuse is
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00:30:20
getting smaller and smaller. you know, they're kicking off, you
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00:30:22
know, the time between these incidents is becoming
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00:30:25
shorter. it's not just once a month, it's now once a week
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00:30:28
and then, you know, every other day. one of the things as well
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00:30:31
is it's almost like a seesaw. So there'll be a really
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00:30:34
serious incident, you know, or like, and then the next
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00:30:37
day it'll be like, I love you, let's get married, like that sort of thing.
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00:30:40
So it's like, you know, it's. They know that they've upset
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00:30:43
the apple cart. So it's like drawing you back in and it just almost becomes.
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00:30:45
The highs and lows become quite extreme.
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00:30:48
so, yeah, so stage
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00:30:50
six. so this is obviously at stage five, it could be
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00:30:53
that the person has left the relationship.
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00:30:56
So, I think what we find in a lot of men who
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00:30:59
commit these kinds of offences is a tendency
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00:31:02
towards rumination. So it's like they feel like they've been
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00:31:04
wronged in some way. I think a lot of the time
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00:31:07
perpetrators kind of like don't
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00:31:10
always. They find ways to justify their behaviour
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00:31:13
so they don't have to deal with the shame of their behaviour or address it
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00:31:16
in any way. They find a way to blame the Victim. And
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00:31:18
so when that victim leaves, you know, then that, you know, they kind of like
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00:31:21
ruminate on that. so
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00:31:24
I think here we kind of. We can see it kind
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00:31:27
of like the path can diverge. So it can either be they
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00:31:30
kind of, you know, they might get into a new relationship and so then they're in the
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00:31:33
honeymoon period of that, so not really worrying about this person anymore,
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00:31:36
or it can be that they're now ruminating on this
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00:31:39
person. so stage seven is the
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00:31:41
planning. So they may buy weapons or seek opportunities to
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00:31:44
get the victim alone. as sage is
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00:31:47
the homicides. So I think again, if
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00:31:50
you're experiencing any kind of stalking behaviours
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00:31:53
that with a context of of
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00:31:56
coercive behaviour in your relationship, seek
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00:31:59
help. Like, you know, this is, like this is now you
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00:32:01
need to seek help because, especially if they're.
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00:32:04
Is it. I mean it's one thing to kind of like ruminate on
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00:32:07
a wrong. You know, we've all had breakups where we kind of think, oh, you know,
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00:32:10
that person, fuck right off. You know, they did this, they did that. That's part
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00:32:13
of processing a relationship. It's absolutely enough of
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00:32:16
another matter for that person to take those thoughts and put
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00:32:19
that into action. So, you know, that is not normal behaviour.
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00:32:21
It's not normal behaviour to you know, to follow
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00:32:24
someone. And stalking doesn't have to be. There are lots of other ways
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00:32:27
that stalking can occur that isn't necessarily like someone physically outside
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00:32:30
your window. We live in the information age. We've got computers, we've
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00:32:33
got phones, we've got other ways we can track people.
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00:32:35
>> Wo0: It was also like the threat of it. So I, When they
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00:32:38
say that they're going to be there, like when you open the door,
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00:32:41
so you. So you don't know if you can open the door
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00:32:44
and you don't know, know if you like, look around the
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00:32:47
corner if they're going to be there. Do you know what I mean? And that dread
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00:32:50
there probably never are. But you still think every
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00:32:53
single time you leave your house that they're going to be there.
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00:32:56
>> Lucy: I left the country. I left the country due to the
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00:32:58
lack of police response in my case. I, mean, the police did
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00:33:01
respond. They agreed the risk I was at, but they just didn't help. They
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00:33:04
weren't particularly. And I don't. Again, I don't want to put people off
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00:33:07
in terms of like, if they do want to seek prosecution, do. But
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00:33:10
it was quite delayed and because of my knowledge of these
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00:33:13
steps, I left the country.
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00:33:16
it's terrifying. And I don't think, unless you've been through it, you can
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00:33:19
really understand what it's like to live under that level of
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00:33:21
fear. And again, that ties into what we were saying
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00:33:24
with the dash, where it's. It's the victim's intuitive sense
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00:33:27
of fear as well. And so it may not make sense to those professionals.
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00:33:30
Yeah, but if this woman is terrified, you need to listen to her because
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00:33:33
she may not be able to, as you say, vocalise like, the
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00:33:36
whole mishmash of, like, weird, controlling, coercive
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00:33:39
behaviours that she's lived up there, but she is afraid. So you need to take that
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00:33:42
seriously, you know?
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00:33:43
>> Wo0: Yeah. And every, like, thing on its own,
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00:33:46
isolated, is like. Probably sounds
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00:33:49
completely normal, but. But when they're
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00:33:52
all together and they're adding up, it is. It's
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00:33:55
scary.
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00:33:56
>> Lucy: No, it is. And so it's almost like, that was it,
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00:33:59
like plausible deniability or something. you
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00:34:02
know, so it's like, as you say, each thing you just think, oh, why are you worried
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00:34:05
about that? But it's like. And I think as well,
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00:34:08
like, sometimes with victims, I certainly
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00:34:11
find this, is that it's actually hard to even
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00:34:14
kind of like, think about the worst bits that
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00:34:17
you've been through. So you're trying to, like, explain it to Justice Special.
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00:34:20
And it's like, almost like my brain was going like, super. I just couldn't
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00:34:23
really speak properly because I was so traumatised
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00:34:26
that, like. And so. And so then it's. Then you're not. You're struggling to actually
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00:34:29
get the information you need to the professional people, if you know what I mean.
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00:34:32
So it's, you know, there's a lot, lot that goes on within these dynamics
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00:34:34
that, But, yeah, ah, but I think if you
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00:34:37
can, if you at least have this information, you can
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00:34:40
then make a safety plan. So even if you
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00:34:43
don't want to get the police involved, you can make a safety plan that includes the
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00:34:46
police or that doesn't include the police. Do you see what I
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00:34:49
mean? because, you know, there are things you can
do to like,
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00:34:52
you know, you can. You can move to a different area, you could secure your
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00:34:54
property. you could ask the infra service. You know, you could get
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00:34:57
a panic button put in your. In your home. There are things you can
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00:35:00
do to you to make yourself safe without necessarily
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00:35:03
getting the police involved.
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00:35:05
>> Wo0: Amazing.
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00:35:07
We're obviously going to put all of that, information in the show
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00:35:10
notes and I've been opening tabs as you've
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00:35:13
been talking about the power and control wheel.
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00:35:15
>> Lucy: So that was a huge info dump. But, it's just. This is just
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00:35:18
information. I feel like people should. People should know because it
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00:35:21
kept me. I genuinely believe it kept me safe.
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00:35:24
>> Wo0: no, I, I agree with you. Like, I wish that I'd
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00:35:27
have known that kind of stuff. So this happened to me a
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00:35:30
long time ago. So like 25 years ago was the
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00:35:33
violent stuff and like when I was going outside and the
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00:35:35
fear of even
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00:35:38
like not being asleep. Do you know what I mean?
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00:35:41
>> Lucy: I. I struggled to allow myself to sleep
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00:35:44
because I was so frightened. I actually didn't want to close my eyes at one point
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00:35:47
because I felt so unsafe. and I know that probably sounds extreme
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00:35:50
and I think sometimes your fear actually does cross of.
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00:35:53
Well, no, but I think sometimes you. You get so afraid of what
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00:35:56
might happen, they actually, you know, your fear is always not
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00:35:59
necessarily representative of. Do you see what I mean? But
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00:36:02
it is because of what you've been through. So.
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00:36:04
>> Wo0: But I would pretend to be asleep so
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00:36:06
that I would get left alone. Do you know what I
Speaker:
00:36:09
mean? So I wouldn't be asleep. I'd know very much what
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00:36:12
was going on. But I'd just like, m. Oh, why are you in bed at 5
Speaker:
00:36:15
o'clock in the interview? Yeah.
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00:36:18
Thank you so much, Lucy.
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00:36:23
Right, so I want to hear.
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00:36:26
So, because we're not man bashing on this. We,
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00:36:29
we're like. I love men, especially love
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00:36:32
men. So can you, like, tell
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00:36:34
me a positive example of a man
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00:36:37
showing their support to you or
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00:36:40
showing up for you? No.
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00:36:43
>> Lucy: Yeah, So I think, I think like,
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00:36:45
we. I think
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00:36:48
one of the things I had to do because I was one of those people who had been in
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00:36:51
more than one kind of like,
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00:36:54
not, very healthy relationship and so I had to kind of like quite
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00:36:57
actively reflect on like, what were my patterns within
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00:37:00
relationships. and so, you know, again,
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00:37:03
like a little shout out because there's programmes you can join for this. Women
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00:37:06
who's been in more, more than one relationship. for example, the Freedom
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00:37:09
Programme. So please, like, ask around for that. That.
Speaker:
00:37:12
But. So I think things like
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00:37:15
when, when people are good listeners but you can trust
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00:37:18
them with that information. And I know that sounds silly but, like
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00:37:21
I. My husband is just honestly the
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00:37:24
sweetest person, so I know that I can talk to him about anything.
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00:37:27
I think as well, because he. He's also a, professional. He's worked in this.
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00:37:30
So he think he a. He gets where I'm coming from. I don't
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00:37:33
have to like, try and like, explain it to him too
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00:37:36
much because he. Because he works in that field. But, B,
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00:37:38
I know that, A, I can trust him with that information, and he
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00:37:41
doesn't judge me because I think when you've been through a
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00:37:44
situation where you've opened up and you've been vulnerable to people, they've m.
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00:37:47
Then used that information to harm you. you know, or
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00:37:50
to create more like, creative ways to just, like, you know,
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00:37:53
psychologically abuse you, to then be able to then open up to someone, actually
Speaker:
00:37:56
know. Like, you know, this is a safe person. This is someone I can trust with my
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00:37:59
emotions. But I can't even begin to tell you. It's like, oh,
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00:38:01
like, I didn't know you could have relationships like this.
Speaker:
00:38:04
Amazing.
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00:38:05
>> Wo0: Oh, I'm so happy for you. Like,
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00:38:07
goals. And finally, my
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00:38:10
love, can you tell us, one
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00:38:13
piece of clothing that you
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00:38:16
wear that makes you feel powerful or
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00:38:18
beautiful? Could be your brown leather
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00:38:21
jacket.
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00:38:23
>> Lucy: I mean, I probably would go for that jacket. I got. I got married
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00:38:26
in that jacket. but, I mean, I've never been a huge. Like,
Speaker:
00:38:29
I'm a little gremlin. I would just wear trackies, you know, I mean,
Speaker:
00:38:32
trackies everywhere in the pyjamas of the day. But
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00:38:35
I think, yeah, I'm gonna go for that leather jacket. It's,
Speaker:
00:38:38
It's heavy as hell, but it,
Speaker:
00:38:40
Yeah, I feel good when I wear it.
Speaker:
00:38:43
I love that.
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00:38:45
>> Wo0: Oh, bless you, Lucy. Thank you so much for
Speaker:
00:38:47
coming on. You are an absolute angel.
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00:38:50
>> Lucy: Thank you for having me.
Speaker:
00:38:51
>> Wo0: And I will see you.
Speaker:
00:38:52
>> Lucy: Sorry if your ears have melted from all that information.
Speaker:
00:38:55
>> Wo0: No, no, I just know it's really good.
Speaker:
00:38:57
>> Lucy: Thank you you so much for having me.
Speaker:
00:38:58
>> Wo0: Thanks, Lucy. I love
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00:39:00
you.
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00:39:04
That's it for today's episode of Don't Fucking Tell Me what to Wear
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00:39:07
or How to Run My Business on the Woopod with me,
Speaker:
00:39:10
Wendy Gannon. This is more than just a podcast.
Speaker:
00:39:12
It's part of female 5 million. Head to the link in the
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00:39:15
show notes to find out more about our movement to empower
Speaker:
00:39:18
women. If this episode spoke to you in any
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way, made you laugh, made you cry, try or maybe
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inspired you, share it with a friend who needs to hear it.
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Leave us a rating and a review, and let's keep this movement
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growing. And while I've got you here,
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my photography is the way that I fight back against the
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00:39:35
patriarchy. I empower female founders with the
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00:39:38
confidence to be themselves in their business, to really
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enjoy their photo shoot and actually love their
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photos so then they can grow their business, increase
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their prices, and get paid what they deserve. Deserve?
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If you want to work with me, drop me a message. All the
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info you need to contact me is in the show notes. Until
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00:39:55
next time, keep doing you. And remember, you are part
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of something bigger. bye.