Kent advocate says abuse goes further than football
As the world cup wraps up tonight with Spain v Argentina, a woman from Gillingham says abuse doesn't stop after the final whistle
As Spain takes on Argentina in the World Cup final tonight, a Gillingham woman is warning that domestic abuse doesn’t end when the football does.
Katy Longhurst is a domestic abuse survivor and the founder of Ask Joan - a programme that helps victims ask for help using their homeware:
"Ask Joan then uses data science and artificial intelligence to detect unusual surges in electricity. So that then creates a pattern which is recognised as a signal for help.
"That signal for help then triggers a push notification or a text message to that person's emergency contact.
"But it is done in line with their safety plan."
On how the system works she added:
"This is designed that it can be activated. You could activate it now from your kettle if we were to put you live.
"So everything is in the cloud. It's all cloud based.
"There's no app, there's no hardware. We literally connect directly to the person's smart meter, like the energy smart meter, take that data feed and then you can go live with Joan. "
Since the creation of the app responses have been overwhelming:
"The responses remind me constantly of why we've done this.
"One that sticks in my mind is a mother got in touch to tell us that she taught her five-year-old daughter that if mummy doesn't wake up or if mummy needs help that she can call her aunties from the kettle, a five-year-old child."
"That's the reality of families that families are living with at the moment. "
"And it tells me exactly why I built Joan."
Post-match concerns
On the importance of keeping victims in mind after the tournament ends, Longhurst said:
"So domestic abuse does rise around football tournaments. Because being in a domestic abuse relationship, when a football tournament's on, it's like bringing in a presser cooker.
"But the abuse already exists, it's not caused by the football.
"The perpetrator owns that behaviour, they're culpable for their own behaviour.
"Everyone's seen the statistics, but the women contacting those services wasn't safe in January either.
"So football didn't create that danger, it's just intensified that."
On the solution to the issue she added:
"We need more infrastructure that works all year round.
"So we need specialist service that are properly funded, not scrambled together because a draw was made in the football.
"We're not addressing the root cause of the problem, which is changing the perpetrator's behaviour.
"There's just more emphasis put on domestic abuse when the football season is on.
"But then when the football is not on, that risk is still there, but that support is pulled back."