Why didn’t Steffi just pack her things and leave? Her husband insulted, humiliated and accused her and checked her contacts with the outside world. Then he threatened to commit suicide or take the child away from her if she left him. At one point he hit her too and then apologized for it. Steffi still thinks: Inside he is a good person. She is emotionally exhausted, scared and isolated. She is caught in a spiral of violence and is ashamed. You and your child are in danger.
Steffi is a fictitious person from a video of the new virtual and interactive exhibition on domestic violence by the Munich District Office. This was conceived on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Intervention Center (ILM). Because many are like Steffi, almost every third woman experiences violence at some point in her life, according to the information film. Every age group, nationality, level of education, culture and religion is affected. The intervention center in the district office is convinced that many simply didn’t even realize that they were victims of violence. Since the counseling was founded, more than 2,180 women have received support, advice and comfort from seven employees in over 15,800 hours.
The ILM repeatedly draws attention to the fact that domestic violence leads to physical injuries, such as bruises, organ tears, broken bones, but also psychological injuries such as sleeping and eating disorders, destroyed self-esteem and can be the cause of heart problems, stomach problems, depression or miscarriages . Domestic violence always has a negative impact on children and young people and carries the risk of lasting damage.
As early as 2010, the district council decided to create a specialist center for help and prevention in the event of domestic violence. In 2012, two employees started work, spatially and conceptually closely based on the parent and youth counseling center of the district office. In the same year, the ILM concluded a cooperation agreement with the Munich police: The ILM became a partner of the Munich support model against domestic violence (MUM) and has since been responsible for the proactive counseling of those affected by police operations due to domestic violence for the district of Munich.
There has been a round table on this problem since 2007. The committee meets twice a year and brings together experts from politics, health care, the police, the judiciary, youth welfare and victim counseling facilities. The meetings enable an intensive professional exchange, create and stabilize corresponding networks and promote the emergence of new cooperations. In 2012, the ILM took over the management of the round table. In the years that followed, projects started to provide counseling for children affected by domestic violence, as well as the pilot project for men’s counseling in the district of Munich (MILK), a counseling center for offenders. When the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe’s convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, came into force in Germany in 2018, the district said it already had the intervention center ILM, MILK and its own child and youth counseling service meets the essential requirements of the Convention.
The men’s counseling center MILK has just presented its latest annual report to the district’s social committee, which shows: The cases are increasing and they are becoming more complex. In 2021, 62 men who had used violence against former or current partners came to the counseling center. Almost a quarter turned themselves in, and just as many were sent through family courts. The advice center sees the “volatile world and the changing partnerships, sometimes even triangular relationships” as a reason for the increase, according to the Social Committee meeting. Maybe that didn’t happen before or the authorities didn’t find out. A total of 104 children live in the households most recently affected. Therefore, one wants to approach youth work even more preventively.
The virtual and interactive exhibition on domestic violence and the intervention center is under the link https://t1p.de/ILM-Raum furnished.