A charity which provides support to women and children fleeing domestic abuse has praised a survivor for speaking out about her ordeal.

The Lennox Herald reported exclusively last week how Ghislaine Kennedy said she was “lucky to be alive” having been beaten until she was unconscious by a former partner.

During years of abuse, she also suffered a miscarriage in a cupboard she was locked in and she served time in jail to repay a debt her ex had racked up.

This week, Dumbarton District Women’s Aid co-ordinator Liz Gillespie praised her courage for speaking out.

She said: “It’s very brave. “A lot of people may feel they can’t talk about it because people judge them and you get the same old story where people ask why do they stay?

“Because they are so controlled, they don’t think they have got anywhere to go.

“They are alienated and financially controlled by their partners.

“It’s horrific that she went through all that and felt that there was nowhere she could go to.

“Hopefully these days with social media, websites etc, people should more easily be able to find support somewhere.”

Ghislaine, who is now happily married to Ricky Kennedy who she met through volunteering with St Augustine’s Church in Dumbarton, told how she struggled to leave her abusive partners as she was so manipulated by them.

Liz explained how there is more joined-up thinking when it comes to domestic abuse now with all agencies looking for signs of concern.

She said: “We do a lot of awareness raising with GPs, social work and other agencies and we get a lot of referrals externally.

“This gives you a wee bit of hope that people are getting the help they need.

“We are getting invited into organisations, groups and schools to talk about abuse prevention work and healthy relationships.

“It starts with younger people now. We are aware that there are lots of young people currently in relationships and they don’t think they are unhealthy but when we go into schools and talk about that they have started to think ‘I shouldn’t be accepting that’ or ‘I shouldn’t be acting like that’.”

The charity co-ordinator spoke about the importance of education adding: “There are lots of different ways for people to be abused through the internet, telephone, texting, messaging and sharing.

“That’s why it’s really important to reach out to young people as soon as we can.

“We have had responses from young people maybe behaving in a certain way and haven’t considered it to be abusive.

"Our hope is that it gets people talking.”

Liz also acknowledged how new domestic abuse legislation brought in earlier this year has been welcomed by women across the area.

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 which came into force in April makes psychological harm and coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence, while previous laws only protected women from physical abuse.

Liz explained: “There’s obviously relief that, after all these years, it’s recognised that it’s not just about physical abuse.

“There’s the feeling of, at last, people are recognising that in many ways coercive control and psychological abuse can be worse.”

Anyone who wishes to get in touch with Dumbarton District Women’s Aid, can contact 01389 751036 or visit the DDWA Facebook page.