Rise in younger people across South Coast experiencing domestic abuse
Charities say they've experienced a rise of 55% over the past year
Charities say the ages of people experiencing domestic abuse are getting increasingly younger.
The Stop Domestic Abuse charity say they've worked with 55% more young people under the age of 21 over the last year.
Claire Lambon's CEO and says social media's had an impact.
She said: "It's a change in how perpetrators use social media as a tool to abuse their partner.
"We see it across all age groups, but particularly with younger people.
"It's a very crucial tool that perpetrators will use which has a huge impact on young people."
She's telling us what they've been seeing.
Ms Lambon said: "We are seeing increasing demands in support for younger people affected by domestic abuse, particularly in teenagers and young adults.
"That shows up in rising referrals to our services, as well as disclosures within family cases where abuse is also present.
"So young people tell us about monitoring through phones and social media, pressure around sexual images, isolation from friends and controlling behaviour being normalised early on in relationships.
"Last year, 9% of our referrals to our community-based services were for women aged 16 to 20, and in fact, we worked with 55% more young people under 21 last year than we did in the previous year."