Our History

Westmeath Support Service Against Domestic Abuse (WSSADA) was founded by a woman who recognised the lack of services for women who encounter domestic abuse, following her own personal experience.

The need for the service was identified by the founder while she was working as part of a community employment programme in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Centre in Mullingar. This was due to a number of women contacting the ICTU for information regarding domestic abuse. It became evident that there was no specialised support service dealing exclusively with domestic abuse in the Mullingar and wider Westmeath area. To meet this need, she created an effective, innovative approach built on a profound respect for the dignity of women as thinking, capable, resilient human beings, which is still the basis of the service today.

Westmeath Support Service Against Domestic Abuse (WSSADA) was founded in 2000 as Mullingar & District Women in Crisis, as it was formally known, under the aegis of the ITCU community employment programme.

The board of management was established in 2001 to develop the service in line with national, regional and local developments and needs. In 2002, the service acquired funding from the Regional Planning Committee on Violence against Women in order to appoint a project manager.

The service is now an independent project operating under the name WSSADA. We are a Mullingar based organisation working with women who have or are experiencing gender-based violence/domestic abuse. WSSADA is one of the region’s longest-standing support services to those who have experienced domestic abuse.