On International Women’s Day, we tell you about the precious work of our staff for vulnerable women and mothers in the neighborhood
On the outskirts of Rome, more precisely in the Torrespaccata neighborhood, there is a place where women work and collaborate with and for other women. It is the Safe Space of INTERSOS24, a space that was born in 2018 to give hospitality and shelter to minors and women in transit but which over time has transformed into a safe place also for women exposed or survivors to gender or sexual violence or sexual working exploitation. The Safe Space of INTERSOS24 is a space in which women can socialize and interact with other women and follow several courses. In recent years, the center has become a point of reference for families in the neighborhood, in particular for women and mothers who live in conditions of social marginalization.
The arrival of the pandemic, the phases of the lockdown and the difficulties in accessing medical and psychosocial assistance for many people in this area of the city, have led to the emergence of the need to fill a void. “Many women asked us for help during the months of the lockdown, when all of us lived indoors and this, for many of them, meant being even more exposed to domestic violence”, says Valentina Murino, head of protection projects for INTERSOS in Italy.
In the Safe Space INTERSOS provides psychosocial support
Inside the Safe Space of Torrespaccata, women of all nationalities and from all over the city of Rome arrive, looking for psychological and psychotherapeutic support or, more generally, the possibility of rediscovering their own identity often cracked by violence, psychological and physical abuse suffered in family or work contexts. “Here we try to heal deep wounds caused by violence, rebuilding the sense of trust between and for women”, says Flavia Calò, psychotherapist of the PSY space inside the Safe Space.
From March 2020 to today, about 250 women have taken part in the various activities of Safe Space. “We have many professional activities and workshops such as tailoring, aesthetics, cooking classes and also a space for the children of these women, in order to allow them to devote themselves to these activities”. Murino tells of the long work that has been done to help many women to take back their lives, almost completely managed by their husbands or companions concerning documents, administrative procedures, management of contacts. Support has been provided for the technologicalization of administrative and bureaucratic practices such as the opening of the SPID or the enrollment of children in school for several of the women attending the center.