Month: September 2018

“Hi Beverley,  This is how I feel about Cohort4. Not only are physical hugs given, which I need and want, it’s like a big hug when I go to the lunches and when I’m not there, I know I can have a hug over the phone or via text which means everything to me as I feel loved and cared about. So that is everything to me having no proper family xxx ” I have leaky eyes this morning after receiving this text and the accompanying image from one of our wonderful women. family ˈfamɪli,ˈfam(ə)li/ noun 1. a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit. Family, a term that is so emotive. For some…

It’s that time of year again when I have to prepare the financial accounts of Cohort 4 to go to our Accountant. As well as counting actual £’s of income from funding and as a result our social enterprise trading function, I also count the number volunteer hours connected to our operations. Volunteers – the most valuable resource we as a successful, grassroots, womens, community organisation have. I reflect on a meeting I attended this week to discuss funding and the need for community services for women who experience mental ill health and peer support work. The funders’ aim is primarily to fund women’s grass roots services who could authentically offer peer support for women in their community with mental…

Cohort 4 had a really motivational time in London on Monday evening, supporting CLiNKS at their event at the Haberdasher’s Hall. ‘An insider’s view of prison and probation today.’  Just putting up the presentation, photographs and testimonies of our women’s support organisation and activities showed us how much we had achieved individually and as a group over the past 12 months. Celebrating success is very important to us, so seeing this visually in such a lovely location was uplifting and motivates us to continue supporting women through into our fifth year of operations in 2019. We are members of CLiNKS. Some of us have previous convictions, some of us live with partners or family members who have convictions, and we…

‘I know about domestic violence,’ said the man, ‘I shall tell you my story and you can tell who you like. I want people to know my story,’ he said. During a homeward journey from Malta back to the UK this week I was asked about what I did in Malta whilst working. The response I get varies widely when I tell the enquirer that I am a Senior Lecturer in domestic abuse. Often the disclosure is simply a quick conversation killer, often I get the response, ‘It happens to men too,’ often I get a hushed account of their own experience of survival, or the story of their family member, friend or colleague who was abused by their partner….