On Friday 4th October, local MP Dr Phillip Lee met with Kaleidoscopic UK, a local organisation set-up to provide survivor led support for survivors of domestic abuse.

The Finchampstead-based organisation was founded by Vickie Robertson, who herself is a survivor of child and adult domestic abuse. Local Liberal Democrat Wokingham Borough Councillor, Prue Bray, is a Trustee of the organisation and Phillip met with Vickie in his constituency office to learn more about the vital work she is doing in this area.

Kaleidoscopic UK currently holds two support groups in Wokingham and plans to grow to include additional groups for children, as they are often the forgotten survivors. They are also currently designing prevention programmes to further educate people on the signs and symptoms of abuse through the eyes of survivors. Local service providers often act as a signpost for their services and many local schools have expressed an interest in the training they provide.

When he was a Justice Minister in Theresa May’s Government, Dr Lee worked on the important Draft Domestic Abuse Bill that was debated and voted on in Parliament last week. Phillip expressed support and encouragement for the work that Vickie is doing to support survivors. Kaleidoscopic UK will be holding holding a ‘Domestic Abuse Prevention Convention’ at the Finchampstead Baptist Centre on 17th October.

Commenting, Dr Phillip Lee said:

“It was a privilege to meet with Vickie to learn more about the fantastic and vital work she does through Kaleidoscopic UK to help support survivors of domestic abuse in Wokingham and our local communities. We must do more as a society to help prevent abuse in the first place and that’s why I applaud her efforts to not only support survivors but to provide vital training and prevention programmes.”

Vickie Robertson, Founder of Kaleidoscopic UK, said:

“It was lovely to meet Dr Phillip Lee on Friday and it was great to hear his views, especially knowing that he was involved in the drafting of the proposed new laws on domestic abuse. He was very supportive of Kaleidoscopic UK’s work and future plans, and importantly he understands the difficulties all survivors face. We are looking forward to working closely with him in the future in Wokingham and Bracknell.”