An Ayrshire gym manager brought a room of women to tears as she shared the emotional story of a woman who suffered domestic violence.
Mariea Mohan told the story of a young mum who is a member of the gym and escaped an abusive relationship — before the brave mum stood up and revealed herself.
The story was told as part of a powerful event at All Warriors in Ayr as the all-female gym stood against abusive relationships along with a host of support networks including police, South Ayrshire Women’s Aid and South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership.
The event was organised as part the South Ayrshire Violence Against Women Partnership, a multi-agency approach to tackling the issue.
And the awareness night also coincided with the 16 days of Action White Ribbon Campaign to end violence against women and children.
Members were moved by hard-hitting speeches led by gym manager Mariea, as a local police officer also told how they would receive four calls per shift relating to domestic violence, and Women’s Aid answered concerns surrounding domestic abuse.
Mariea told how any of the women in the room could “be a victim”, as she recalled her own experience of supporting the member and friend who was suffering at the hands of an ex-partner.
In an emotive speech she described seeing the young mum with a “burst lip” and “black and blue marks on her legs”.
Mariea told the audience how each woman telling their story can help “save lives” — as she vowed to stand up to members who are too afraid to speak out.
Speaking to Ayrshire Live after the event on Tuesday, November 30, Mariea told how the night was a success on heightening awareness.
She said: “It was a really successful night. It is the first time we have done anything like it.
“There was a real great energy around the place, we are a community of women who stood together.
“When I told the story of a young mum who survived an abusive relationship — I wanted to get across that we are all victims when someone we love is being abused
“I wanted to get across that we are all victims when someone we love is being abused.
“When she stood up after it — the whole room was in tears.
“It was the main point I wanted to get across — the person sitting next to them was the one who had survived abuse.
“This gym is about friendships not memberships, I want it to be somewhere that is a safe place.
“It’s where women can learn to love themselves, if they don’t feel safe then I’ll be the voice for them — this is part of my life now being here for these girls.
“There was a lot of heartbreak, there was a lot of sharing of personal experiences and everyone, including myself, had questions.”
Sergeant Claire Walker spoke at the event to encourage women to always report violence against women to the police.
Sgt Walker told Ayrshire Live : “The All Warriors Gym was a great platform and example of a local community organisation committed to raising awareness of and ending violence against women.
“Domestic abuse is not okay and this was an ideal opportunity to be able to quash some of the myths around domestic abuse including what forms it takes, what happens when you take the steps to report it to police and what support is available to victims thereafter.
“We (the police) will always encourage women to report any domestic violence against them."
Sarah Millar from South Ayrshire Women’s Aid spoke at the event and she was impressed with the level of engagement.
Sarah added: “It was very powerful and hard hitting — it is always good to have survivor stories, it was a fantastic event to be part of.
“When you hear a personal story a lot of people can identify with that, a lot of women were really brave and shared their experiences.
“The key point we wanted to stress was there are all kinds of forms of abuse and abusive behaviour and we set out to dispel some of the myths around domestic abuse.
“We don’t want women to wait until things get physically violent before they report it.
“Mariea has been really supportive of us and our campaigns and we hope to have more events like it with the gym going forward.”
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