During lockdown, some universities offered refuge to domestic abuse survivors. As students vacate halls due to Covid, could they do so again?
“It all started when the uni closed down in March and I went back to live with my family,” says Prisha*, 20, a second-year student at Middlesex University. “My mum and my sister found out about my boyfriend, and they were furious. My sister was swearing and throwing knives. My mum said she was going to stab my throat. They said they were going to destroy him.”
Prisha contacted the mental health team at her university and was put in a designated safe house in halls. “They gave me accommodation and food, and they didn’t charge me,” she says.
Related: ‘Covid is a social crisis’: the university staff and students filling welfare gaps
