About Inverness Women’s Aid

Inverness Women’s Aid is a charitable organisation and company limited by guarantee, funded by Highland Council and Scottish Government. We are affiliated to the Scottish Women’s Aid network of domestic abuse services across Scotland.

We have been supporting women, children & young people in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey since 1979. Like most Women’s Aid organisations, we started from humble beginnings with a group of volunteers helping local women who were experiencing domestic abuse. This was a time when the women’s movement was starting in earnest and challenging the broad acceptance that domestic abuse was just “a fact of life”. With over 40 years of service, we have seen many positive changes in the way in which domestic abuse is viewed and dealt with but disappointingly the prevalence of men abusing women remains very high and there is obviously still much more work needed in terms of abusive men’s behaviour and public & professional attitudes. IWA has exciting plans for the future to ensure that our service continues to meet our clients’ needs and challenging attitudes which stop making domestic abuse a thing of the past.

Our team have extensive experience, skills and knowledge to ensure that our clients get the best support to enable them to deal effectively with their experiences of domestic abuse. The staff team provides specialist support for women, children & young people. We work in accordance with recognised regulatory bodies and actively work in accordance with their guidelines. The high quality of our support is assured by IWA being regulated by the Care Inspectorate and staff being registered with Scottish Social Services Council.

The IWA Support Team currently consists of 6 Women’s Support Workers, 1 Intake Worker, 1 Children & Young People’s Worker & 2 Relief staff. The Management Team consists of a Manager, Team Leader, Finance & Administrative Manager and a Communications & Engagement Officer. The team come from a range of backgrounds and all bring a wide variety of experience and skills to their roles.

The organisation is overseen by a Board of 6 volunteer Director/Trustees who ensure that we have good organisational planning, function appropriately as a service and continue to meet all necessary regulations as a charity and limited company. To view out latest accounts and our annual Duty of Candour Report for 1st April 2024