A Sheffield based charity have pleaded for life saving funding from the council in order to prevent their closure later this year.
Vida Sheffield is an independently funded charity that helps women recovering from sexual and domestic abuse based trauma. 

After their grant funding bids were unsuccessful the charity found itself in a desperate scramble to find money as of December last year.

They have since been “limping along” hoping to find the money they need to stay open.

Karen Hague, chief executive of Vida Sheffield, said: “We just need some commitment to give us core funding.

“We need £240,000 annually, if we could get around half of that as core funding that just makes our job easier.”

With currently only enough money to keep it’s doors open until November, the petition to save Vida, started in December, has amassed over 27,000 signatures

Ms Hague added: “The women that we work with need to know that they can see through their therapy support for the full period that they require and that we can back that up appropriately.

“So it’s not good having to hang on almost by a thread, that’s how it feels.”

At the council meeting on July 17, Vida’s petition was heard by the councillors.

Cllr Angela Argenzio, chair of the adult health and social care policy committee, made clear that the council were unable to fund Vida directly and highlighted the shortcomings of diverting money from existing priorities that the budget had already been committed to. 

However the council acknowledged the importance of Vida’s work and offered support with developing a business strategy.

It was proposed that the council write to the executive director of public health Greg Fell, the Integrated Care Board and the new secretary of state for the department of health Wes Streeting. 

Cllr Argenzio said: “If Vida were to close we believe this would increase the burden on other mental health and therapy services in the city and would likely mean women waiting longer to get the help that they need.”

64% of women reported feeling suicidal when they first start accessing Vida services. This emphasises the importance of Vida to the community, followed by 83% of service users seeing improvements in their well being post therapy. 

Becks Batley, a Vida service user and charity worker said: “I was bounced around between statutory services that we all know so well.

“I was dropped though the middle of every net I could possibly have been caught by.

“It was only when I got to Vida’s doors that I was offered some tangible help that made a difference in my life.”

After the meeting Ms Hague said that there could be new changes that could be implemented to statutory services which could help to improve them.

She suggested a “direct health budget” which puts the individual in control of their own health support, empowering them to commit their time and effort into seeing the service through to completion. 

She also called for preventative measures to be added to the school curriculum and an increase in working with perpetrators to cut the issue at the root.