Domestic abuse charity VIDA closes its doors after 30 years helping women and girls in Sheffield
“We leave with one final message: You deserve to be safe. You deserve to be heard. You deserve a life free from abuse. And you deserve the opportunity to heal”
A domestic abuse charity has shut its doors after more than 30 years helping women and girls in Sheffield.
Independent charity VIDA shut its doors on August 31 after failing to secure long term funding to keep its work going.
It was saved two years ago after an outpouring of support in the face of a potential closure in 2024, which included a petition with more than 20,000 signatures.
The charity once claimed its work saved the NHS £50,000 a month through trauma-informed counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy and peer support to promote women’s recover, wellbeing and safety.
But in a final post to the VIDA Facebook page announcing its closure on August 31, the team said: “For more than 30 years, VIDA Sheffield has supported women and girls affected by domestic and sexual abuse. It has been a place of safety, compassion, healing and hope – and it has been an enormous privilege to be part of so many women's journeys.
“To every woman who trusted us with her story: thank you. Your courage and resilience have been at the heart of everything we have done.
“Although VIDA is closing, its impact does not end here. It continues in the women who found their voices, rebuilt their lives and discovered that a different future was possible. And it continues through the people and organisations carrying this work forward.
“We leave with one final message: You deserve to be safe. You deserve to be heard. You deserve a life free from abuse. And you deserve the opportunity to heal.”
VIDA has previously described seeing 170 to 200 clients a year and supporting another 50 through an online forum.
Councillor Maleiki Haybe, who chairs the Adult Health and Social Care Policy Committee at Sheffield Council, said in June this year: “We would be sorry to see VIDA close its doors. VIDA is a long standing and well-respected local charity, and we thank everyone at VIDA for the excellent support they have provided to many women survivors of abuse over the years.
“The council hasn’t funded VIDA for some time now. Our officers met with VIDA in 2024 and supported them with their communications with the Department of Health and Social Care and other potential funders.
“The council’s resources to support women and provide counselling is invested in a range of organisations through our Domestic Abuse Strategy, including women’s refuges, the Domestic Abuse Helpline and Independent Domestic Violence Advocates.”