"Who is Margaret?" Women's Social Club

One of the first programmes implemented by the Rehabilitation Centre is the Social Club, where different women can meet.

• Some participants have experienced violence and have used Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Programmes. They have managed to deal with their traumatic experience and benefit from staying in contact with the organisation and helping other women.
  
• Others have experienced violence but are not yet ready to take radical steps in order to change their lives. These women benefit from the safe environment where they find understanding and respect.
  
• There are also women who have not experienced violence, but are actively opposed to it. It is a positive experience for them to work for the prevention of violence and support women and children survivors of violence.

Through their experience in the Club, members gain a new perspective on their own problems and are able to move beyond seeing themselves as helpless victims. In the safe environment of the Club, these women are able to try different roles and activities in which they feel competent and useful. They mainly direct their efforts to the community and implementing two programmes:

Correspondence Programme

The programme aims at supporting women who live in situations of violence outside of Sofia. They are isolated and have no access to organisations that offer help. The Club members keep in touch with them through letters, thus offering emotional support and important information. The letters are a form of human exchange and support. The women from the club share their own experience of violence and the ways they dealt with it.

Programme for Prevention of Violence

One of the Club's achievements is the development of a prevention team. It consists of three women. They develop and implement projects and activities to introduce the subject of violence in the broader community and among different groups of society. In 2000 they implemented their first project, introducing the issue of violence in three secondary schools. The prevention team designed leaflets on domestic violence, sexual violence, and trafficking in women. 24,000 copies were printed and distributed around the country.