SoLuna Project accompanies women in situations of violence

The SoLuna project, from the University of Matanzas, has the essential purpose of making visible and preventing violence in any of its manifestations. Based in the City Conservator’s Office, the team offers counseling services every Thursday at 9:00 a.m.

One of the members of the work team, the psychologist and professor Ismary Lara Espina, tells us about the meaning of a space of this type in the city to provide specialized help.

The research carried out by the project itself points to women as one of the groups most damaged by violence, hence the need to have spaces of support and advice for them.Violence is often masked and can accumulate years of abuse in different forms. Families also have a responsibility with what happens inside each home and go out in search of help.

Created in 2019, this project advances with the collaboration of psychologists, psychopedagogues, psychiatrists, social workers and a network of institutions and organizations as support. One of the projects with which they are very close is Libélulas matanceras. During the summer stage they participated in several workshops with adolescents and young people to bring them closer to the topic from the perspective of their ages.

SoLuna also arrives on the 25th of each month to schools in the municipality of Matanzas to address with students and their teachers issues related to violence in the school environment, how to detect it, prevent it and ways to confront it without responding with other violent acts.

There is still a lot of progress to be made on the issues of violence, especially that which directly affects women. However, the SoLuna project constitutes a good reference on this long path towards safer family, work and social environments. (ALH)

Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon