What is Bright Choices
Bright Choices is a partnership service between Sacro, the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) and the Multicultural Family Base. We help men, women, children, families and communities who experience difficult relationships. These difficulties can stem from disagreements about how people are supposed to dress, behave, who to marry, how to treat their children, about finishing education, and who they are allowed to be friends with.
All of these issues above are often referred to as ‘honour-based conflicts’ or in more serious situations, ‘honour-based violence (HBV)’.
The Bright Choices service is here to help you stay safe by offering you free and confidential support services. To find out more, please have a look around this website, or call us on 0131 622 7500.
What is ‘Honour’ and ‘Honour based violence (HBV)’?
Honour is often described as the ‘unwritten book of rules’ by which we all live. Depending on our heritage, for some people this code can be a lot stricter than for others. This is often, the case for people who come from migrant communities, or who are from a religious or traditional family or community.
‘Honour’ can mean many different things, but it is mostly to do with modesty and traditional rules about acceptable gender roles, behaviour and lifestyle. If people move away from what is considered ‘acceptable’, then they are often punished for this behaviour-and this is what we mean by ‘Honour Based Violence’.
Sometimes people are thought to behave ‘dishonourably’ if they…
- dress in Western clothes instead of traditional or religious clothes
- are in a relationship with someone from a different community or someone their family does not approve of
- refuse to go through with a marriage arrangement made by his/her family
- want to get a divorce but their family insist that they should stay married
- disagree with their family or community about how they want to live their lives
- compared to what their family wants
- do not want to raise their children in the same way that they were raised
These are only a few examples of behaviours that people consider ‘honourable’. These can be more or less strict depending on the family or the community, and not everyone will be affected to the same extent. Sometimes people take honour for granted so much that they may not realise that they can have a say in how to live their lives. Bright Choices is here to help evryone understand what is happening to them and to support them to make informed decisions.
Who do we work with?
We work with any individual, family or community who is affected by issues of honour and honour based violence. It can be someone who has survived abuse because he/she was thought to betray his/her honour or someone who might be at risk of punishment for this reason. The support we offer is strictly confidential and suitable for individuals, families and communities at a venue that is safe and appropriate for them to access.
Who can access Bright Choices?
Any individual or family affected by issues of honour and honour abuse can refer to Bright Choices or they can be referred by a friend, relative or a professional such as a teacher, social worker, mental health practitioner, GP etc. Depending on the specific situation, we can offer a variety of different services as well as signpost or refer them to additional services that can be helpful.
How long will it take before the service starts?
This will depend on how quickly we receive a referral, and how quickly we can make contact to arrange our initial meeting. As soon as we are clear on what the situation is and what support is most appropriate, we will start offering the service as soon as possible. How long the service takes to start will depend on the person’s availability, although we aim to see people as quickly as possible.
