Shannon’s Charity Skydive for Women’s Aid

Hi, my name is Shannon and I am doing a charity skydive to raise money for Women’s Aid. All I’m asking is that you make a donation for a good cause and in return I’ll throw myself out of a plane at 10,000 feet! Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? The jump will take place at St Andrews on the 3rd of December, weather dependent!

This fundraiser is pretty personal but I wanted to speak out for those that feel like they can’t. I recently had an experience with domestic violence and although it could be seen as minor compared to what a lot of women go through, I experienced the trauma that this caused mentally and emotionally on top of the physical act itself, and then had to deal with the extreme guilt felt after reporting it. I have since been in therapy and have been working through these feeling and now see that I shouldn’t feel guilty for any of the consequences that this person faces due to their own horrible actions. And also by reporting it, I might have helped to prevent another woman going through the same or potentially worse in the future. If someone is capable of this behaviour once and thinks that it’s acceptable, then they are definitely capable of doing it again.

A lot of women aren’t as lucky as I was to get out of the situation so easily. So many live in fear or shame, or maybe don’t even realise that what they’re experiencing is domestic violence because it’s just what they’re used to. But domestic violence is NOT ok. Even if it was “only a slap”.

I wanted to speak up and share my experience so that any other women (or men) dealing with domestic violence don’t feel so alone and know that it’s okay to speak up and that safe places exist for you.

So here’s where the charity comes in. Women’s aid is a national charity that provides life saving services to women and their children to help them escape and build a future where domestic violence is not tolerated. I’m thankful that I didn’t need to use any of these services but you never know who in your life might need to use something similar at some point; your mum, daughter, sister, friend?

So please, donate what you can, and if anyone is struggling with DV then know that you can always reach out to me for a friendly ear ❤️