This week marks National Stalking Awareness Week, a time dedicated to highlighting the lived experiences of survivors and the changing face of harassment in the UK. As the theme for 2026 focusses on the intersection of technology and control, it is vital to look at how far we have come, and how much more dangerous the ‘shadow’ has become. By revisiting a story from 2008, we can see that while the tools of the stalker have evolved from physical presence to digital surveillance

I always believed that if I could just get them through their childhood, they would be safe - that the threat of a controlling parent would dissipate at eighteen. I was wrong. What I failed to realise was that coercive control doesn't stop at adulthood; it simply evolves. This is the story of how I watched my adult children navigate the 'slow-motion collision' of a trauma bond, and how we are finally reclaiming our narrative.

In December 2023 the Office for National Statistics released new data on domestic abuse. In the data, 3.2% of respondents aged 60-74 and 1.4