OPINION: New Beginnings for families rebuilding lives after domestic abuse
With Valentine’s Day approaching, the shops are full of red hearts and blossoms, and you would think it’s all sunshine and rainbows, writes Elaine Stevenson, chief executive of HADCA.
Unfortunately for many that is not the case. One in four women are subjected to domestic abuse in their lifetime and celebratory days on the calendar become dates to fear, with the only guarantee that the highs will be met with equally impactful lows.
New Beginnings Peer Support is all too familiar with this scenario. This brilliant local charity empowers women and their children, providing them with a foundation from which they can rebuild their lives after domestic abuse, including post-separation abuse. This Valentine’s Day, they’ll be promoting self-love, showing the importance of self-reflection to ensure your own needs are met, as, like the saying goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup. With the majority of their clients being mums to school age children, having a full cup is both vital and challenging due to the mental, emotional, and psychological impact of co-parenting with an abuser, or solo parenting with no or limited support.
The values in the ‘Own My Life’ course seed the importance of self-love through boundaries and self-efficacy, with a new volunteer now supporting delivery. Natalie became a volunteer through the Rise2Thrive Programme, a partnership developed by Better Connect, which includes local charities such as Orb Community Arts, Citizens Advice and Skills 4 Living.
Natalie has grown in confidence, trained as a Level 3 Peer Mentor, and feels ready to volunteer. Her long-term goal is employment within women’s support. Natalie completed the ‘Own My Life’ course explaining: “I found it helped me make sense of everything and supported me to heal. It’s not just the course but the people you do the course with and the support you receive throughout.”
Another of New Beginnings Peer Support’s Rise2Thrive participants has been recruited as their volunteer manager. Rochelle has wasted no time getting started, with multiple volunteer roles available, from Ripon Group support to ‘Own My Life’ online delivery support, social media and much more. Rochelle said: “Joining New Beginnings feels aligned to both my own journey and my desire to support women to reach their full potential.”
CEO Lindsay Oliver described the growth of the team: “50 per cent of our staff are women who have used our service, and it is testimony to the development of the client to volunteer pathway as a route to employment. Volunteering is a huge part of our service from our trustees, group facilitation to check-in calls, admin and HR.
"I will always be grateful to HADCA and Two Ridings Community Foundation, as it is THE LOCAL FUND that truly supported New Beginnings to become what it is today. They saw in me what I now get to see in others. The way our organisation is growing is proof it’s delivering what is both needed and wanted.”
Find out more at www.newbeginningspeersupport.com, email [email protected] or check out our HADCA Volunteering Directory at www.hadca.org.uk/volunteer.