A victim of domestic violence has spoken about the ordeal and how the Citizens Advice Bureau helped her get her life back on track.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, lives in Letchworth and split up with her ex-partner in 2012 after 18 months of abuse.
During this period she was not allowed to have a phone, open her mail or answer the door and suffered several fractured ribs after being thrown down the stairs.
The woman, who has children from a different relationship, said: “I literally had no control over my life at all. He only ever hit me once but he was what the police called a ‘strangler’. He used to choke me until I was barely breathing and I would have bruises everywhere.
“He threw me down the stairs and used to hold my head underneath the tap but always made sure that I could always cover the marks up.
“At it’s worst point I felt like I was walking on egg shells. I just didn’t know when he was going to change because there was never a specific trigger.
“Before I was in a violent relationship I always said that they minute someone laid a finger on me I’d be straight out the door but I didn’t understand how hard it is to walk away from a person that you love.
“After he left I discovered I was more than £2,000 in debt and was due to be evicted from my house. He never let me open letters so I never knew. I contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau because I didn’t know where to turn.
“They couldn’t have done more for me and have allowed me to carry on living at the same address and helped me get back on my feet. I don’t know where I’d be without them.
“When I think back to how I lived it was unbearable and I am just glad to be free of it and back to getting on with my life.”
The CAB, which offers support and advice to people with a variety of problems from substance abuse to domestic violence, launched its free touchscreen kiosk at the Baldock Community Centre in Simpson Drive on Friday.
A drop-in session is held there every Wednesday between 9.30am and 11.30am but the kiosk will enable people to use all the services the CAB provides during normal opening hours from Monday to Saturday.
For more visit www.northhertscab.org.uk.
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