At 32, Astrid Le Menestrel left an abusive partner with 4 young children. “I was told, ‘Madam, if you don’t leave, the State will take care of your children.’ And that was the trigger. But I had just liquidated my business. So, I was offered emergency accommodation. I would have done it for myself, but for my children, I couldn’t; it was too hard, and I promised myself that the day I felt better, it would be my turn to help and create something tailored to this audience that is not yet in a precarious situation but can quickly fall into one.”
The idea behind L'Etoile du Berger is to acknowledge that domestic violence affects all segments of society, not just those in precarious situations. “The higher the sphere, the more insidious the violence will be, primarily psychological, which leaves no visible traces,” explains Astrid Le Menestrel.
The goal is to train as many people as possible to detect domestic violence, especially the silent types, such as psychological violence, wherever they may be found.
Training managers and anyone interested in companies to learn how to detect and direct individuals towards resources and organizations like L'Etoile du Berger, where people who work and do not fit into existing systems are supported.
L'Etoile du Berger has a team of “victim support specialists for domestic violence,” a person who will listen and, based on needs, assemble a multidisciplinary team with a lawyer, a psychologist specialized in trauma, a real estate agent, a specialized educator…
This support will take place over the long term, for as long as necessary to regain self-confidence and rebuild one’s professional and personal life, establish healthy relationships with children, parents, and friends, and create solid foundations to avoid falling back into toxic relationships.
Individuals welcomed at L'Etoile du Berger will contribute financially; not everything will be free, but this will allow them to receive support and assistance that they won’t find elsewhere. “Because if they have some financial resources, they are told to manage on their own. They can afford a therapist, a lawyer, so they don’t need support. Consequently, a whole segment of society finds itself alone in these situations and today does not take the necessary steps to escape violence, does not protect themselves, does not act. And that’s how we find this chain of violence being passed down from generation to generation,” insists Astrid Le Menestrel.
“My lawyer told me back then, ‘Madam, that’s why women stay.’ I thought, that’s not possible. We need to invent something different that is adapted. This is how L'Etoile du Berger is changing the game.”
