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"Working through the pandemic we kept our Domestic Abuse survivors smiling and feeling safe and cared for. It's incredibly hard for them to end up with us in a refuge, but we're all about being there for them, empowering them, and building some positive, happy memories that they can take away with them when they leave. When they say, 'What should I do?' we'll say, 'Well, these are your options. You need to take ownership of that, even though we'll help you navigate through your choices'. Because they don't believe in themselves. That was taken away by the man of the house always telling them what to do.
"I started working in VAWG - that's Violence Against Women and Girls, also known as Domestic Violence or DV, initially as a volunteer, 16 years ago, and there's something very special about working in this sector. The women that choose to do it, do it from the heart. I do like doing stuff that's frontline and not far removed. I'm accessible to service users all the time, they know me and they can pick up the phone to me at any time if they're not happy. You do get some challenging cases but you deal with those with heart as well. Women who've had trauma may not respond by being grateful or thankful or polite. Some may have PTSD, may not want to be around people or want any contact. But you work with them and hope that you've made a small difference. And quite often you might get that 'Thank you!' and you think, 'Oh, they knew we really cared'. You do have to have great stores of resilience, and some people are not cut out for it. But those that are do incredible work. We do have clinical one-to-one supervision, and we have each other, which is really powerful because sometimes that's all you need - just to sound it out, go, 'Oh my God!' and move on. Solace is full of amazing people: the staff, the campaigners, the activists. I always feel very touched and moved whenever I actually think about what it is we're doing, and how we've managed to change some survivors' lives enormously. I feel honoured to be part of that and really enjoy what I do."
"Working through the pandemic we kept our Domestic Abuse survivors smiling and feeling safe and cared for. It's incredibly hard for them to end up with us in a refuge, but we're all about being there for them, empowering them, and building some positive, happy memories that they can take away with them when they leave. When they say, 'What should I do?' we'll say, 'Well, these are your options. You need to take ownership of that, even though we'll help you navigate through your choices'. Because they don't believe in themselves. That was taken away by the man of the house always telling them what to do.
"I started working in VAWG - that's Violence Against Women and Girls, also known as Domestic Violence or DV, initially as a volunteer, 16 years ago, and there's something very special about working in this sector. The women that choose to do it, do it from the heart. I do like doing stuff that's frontline and not far removed. I'm accessible to service users all the time, they know me and they can pick up the phone to me at any time if they're not happy. You do get some challenging cases but you deal with those with heart as well. Women who've had trauma may not respond by being grateful or thankful or polite. Some may have PTSD, may not want to be around people or want any contact. But you work with them and hope that you've made a small difference. And quite often you might get that 'Thank you!' and you think, 'Oh, they knew we really cared'. You do have to have great stores of resilience, and some people are not cut out for it. But those that are do incredible work. We do have clinical one-to-one supervision, and we have each other, which is really powerful because sometimes that's all you need - just to sound it out, go, 'Oh my God!' and move on. Solace is full of amazing people: the staff, the campaigners, the activists. I always feel very touched and moved whenever I actually think about what it is we're doing, and how we've managed to change some survivors' lives enormously. I feel honoured to be part of that and really enjoy what I do."
"Working through the pandemic we kept our Domestic Abuse survivors smiling and feeling safe and cared for. It's incredibly hard for them to end up with us in a refuge, but we're all about being there for them, empowering them, and building some positive, happy memories that they can take away with them when they leave. When they say, 'What should I do?' we'll say, 'Well, these are your options. You need to take ownership of that, even though we'll help you navigate through your choices'. Because they don't believe in themselves. That was taken away by the man of the house always telling them what to do.