From victims to survivors: narratives of self-help impact on women empowerment

From victims to survivors: narratives about self-help impact on women’s empowerment. Francesca Esposito, ISPA-IU; Manuela Tomai, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome; Pedro Alexandre Costa, UIPES, ISPA-IU Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a conduct of coercion, physical abuse, sexual abuse, threat and emotional abuse that takes place in intimate relationships. IPV implies damages at physical, psychological and existential levels, leading to a substantial burden not only to the victim but also to society. In Italy, service providers indicate that, with a spreading rate of 78%, IPV is the most widespread form of violence that continues to affect women throughout the country (DIRE, 2010). The continuum of violence in intimate relationships is also reflected in the growing number of victims of femicide perpetrated by partners, spouses or former partners (UN, 2012). Despite the alarming data, IPV continues to be socially underestimated in the context of a patriarchal society where violence in intimate relationships is not always perceived as a crime, and where the perception that State responses to the problem are still not appropriate, still persists. This contribution aims at presenting an on-going intervention experience in an antiviolence service in the city of Rome (Italy). This intervention started in January 2011, adopting a self-help strategy to promote individual and collective empowerment of women survivors of IPV. In this sense, self-help allowed women to rebuild their social networks, to promote their access to community resources, to develop relations able to provide them with various forms of social support. Moreover, self-help made it possible for the participants to turn their personal crisis into a social experience contextualized in a wider socio-political and cultural dimension. It also promoted the transition from individual narratives of "victims" to a collective narrative of "survivors", that are active protagonists of their own lives. Apart from the professional’s reflection, space will be given in the contribution to the survivors’ narratives on the self-help group experience and its impact on their own lives.