Domestic Violence - Help and Support
In an emergency:
- Call 999 for fire and rescue services, police and the ambulance service.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use the textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergency SMS service
If you cannot speak, press 55 when prompted and your call will be transferred to the Police. Pressing 55 only works on mobile phones and doesn't allow the police to track your location.
- Ynys Saff or Safe Island is a sexual assault referral centre (SARC) support and advice to men, women, children and young people, following sexual assault in Cardiff and the Vale. 02920 335795 (out of hours leave a message. Staff will call back quickly.
Immediate advice after a sexual assault following a sexual assault can be found here.
Support for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women - 24/7 BAWSO is an all Wales provider delivering specialist services to people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds who are affected by domestic abuse and other forms of abuse, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, human trafficking/slavery and prostitution. For more information, visit the BAWSO website or call their helpline: +44 (0)800 731 8147.
National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline Galop: 0800 999 5428 10am to 4;30 pm Monday to Thursday help@galop.org.uk
Men’s Advice Line: Advice and support for men experiencing domestic violence and abuse 0808 801 0327
Disclosure Response Team – The University’s Disclosure Response Team are a team of specialist university staff trained to respond to disclosures of violence and abuse. They support students affected by harassment, hate crime, sexual violence, relationship abuse, bullying and other forms of unacceptable behaviour. Their opening hours are 09:00-16:30, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays and the Christmas closure period, and can be referred to via this referral form.
Relationship Abuse and Unhealthy Relationships
It can be difficult to identify the signs of an unhealthy relationship, especially when it’s your own. Everyone deserves to feel safe and loved in a relationship.
Relationship abuse does not always involve the use or threat of physical violence. If you notice a pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, it may mean you are in an unhealthy relationship. It is possible you may also be experiencing violence and abuse.
It can be difficult to identify the signs of an unhealthy relationship, especially when it’s your own.
Signs of an unhealthy relationship include:
- your partner is controlling or possessive
- you are being ridiculed or criticised
- you are being manipulated
- you are being intimidated
- you are being threatened
- your partner is isolating you from other friends or family or limiting who you see
- your partner is controlling what you spend
- you are experiencing physical or sexual violence.
Other help
Download the Bright Sky app
Bright Sky is a free to download mobile app providing support and information for anyone who may be in an abusive relationship or those concerned about someone they know.
The app is available to use in English, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu.
Download the app on the App Store.
Download the app on Google Play.
Download the Safezone app
Cardiff University provides all students with access to a SafeZone app, where you can contact University Security directly by sharing your location and communicating quickly via text message. If you feel unsafe anywhere on campus, you can use the SafeZone app to report this and seek immediate assistance. It will also show you where you are on campus in a variety of formats.
Counselling and Wellbeing Support if you need to talk to someone to manage your emotional health and wellbeing.
Student Advice
You can also contact the Student Advice service for free, confidential and independent advice available for all students of Cardiff University. We are independent of the University and our role is to give you impartial advice and guidance and help you understand the options available to you.
Student Advice can also provide you with practical advice and support. We can advise on housing and any implications of the bullying on your study. If the perpetrator is a Cardiff University student, we can advise on how to make a complaint against them to the University. We can support you through your complaint and advise on submitting extenuating circumstances or taking an interruption of study if that becomes necessary.
If your circumstances are impacting your wellbeing and/or ability to study and perform at your usual level, we can