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