Secret safe rooms helping domestic violence victims execute their exit plans

Hidden away in shopping centres across Sydney are rooms you’d never notice. More than 250 women have snuck into these rooms and sought the help they need to take a step towards freedom.

Thirteen years ago Lisa Harnum was thrown off a 15-floor balcony to her death by the man she was going to marry.

Her story is a poignant reminder of the pervasive and insidious nature of coercive control, and sheds a light on the complexities of domestic violence and why women find it so hard to leave.

While Lisa couldn’t escape the clutches of fiance Simon Gittany, the charity started in her honour is giving women an exit plan to escape the tentacles of their abusers.

So far 250 women have visited secret safe rooms in Sydney that have no signage or indication from the outside that could give away what goes on inside.

The brainchild of Aileen Mountifield, executive director of the Lisa Harnum Foundation, the safe rooms help women with the first step “which is always the worst step”.

“Seven years ago I had this idea for a safe room inside a shopping centre because shopping is a normal activity and even if they are being financially abused they are usually given enough money to get groceries,” Ms Mountifield told The Saturday Telegraph.

Aileen Mountifield says more than 250 women have visited the secret safe rooms in shopping centres in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

“So I approached the centre manager at Castle Towers (in Sydney’s northwest) and shared with him my thoughts and he thought it was brilliant,” she said.

“Then we found a place there that could be used. It’s very much tucked away, there is no signage or windows, you wouldn’t think behind the doors is a loungeroom, where women feel comfortable, it’s not clinical.”

Ms Mountifield said women meet with a case worker, talk about their issues and they devise a plan, depending on their needs.

“Normally women only access the safe room a first time, they don’t have to go back because the worker will arrange to make appointments, take them to Centrelink, whatever is necessary focusing on their individual need.”

Next came a safe room at Rouse Hill Town shopping centre and again “you just would not find it in a million years”.

“The things we ask is that women make sure their mobile phone is off so they can’t be tracked and we also have them sign a non-disclosure as to the location of the room.”

Thirteen years ago Lisa Harnum was thrown off a 15th-floor balcony to her death by the man she was going to marry.

Ms Mountifield now wants to open a third at Ryde Shopping Centre but doesn’t have the money to put in another case worker.

“We are really hoping we get a corporation who wants to help us with a donation and we would love to branch out into the broader Sydney area.”

Ms Mountifield said women heard about the safe rooms through referrals and word of mouth in the local area. There is also a number on the website that goes directly through to a case worker.

“At least 250 women have gone through the safe rooms and that’s just in the Hills area,” she said.

“This is my passion because we can see that its working. Women and children really deserve a chance at a safe, free life and we want to give them that.”

Ms Harnum’s family who live abroad are supportive of Ms Mountifield’s work to make sure their daughter’s death is not in vain.

Visit https://www.lisahf.org.au