Janet was 51 and had suffered abuse for 25 years when she managed to build up the courage to escape one New Year’s Eve. Thanks to life-saving support from the Poole Domestic Abuse Project which has allowed her to start healing, she has been helping others as a volunteer. “I arrived at the refuge strangely […]
Along with her two children, Melissa moved to BCHA’s women’s refuge in 2014 to piece her life back together. Despite a disability that had left her struggling with mobility and a suffering a history of domestic abuse, Melissa came to believe that she could one day be happy again: “All my life I had been […]
After a string of abusive relationships, Kaye ended up homeless in South Africa and alone on dangerous streets. With just the clothes on her back and no shoes, Kaye agreed to smuggle drugs out of the country, knowing that she would get caught and deported back to the UK. Kaye found herself living on the […]
Mai-Li believes that leaving a violent relationship is easy – it’s staying away that takes strength. After what she calls “the great escape” from abuse, Mai-Li and her sons made their way to Bournemouth’s women’s refuge. Thanks to the support there, she has stayed away, and achieved more than she ever believed she could. “I […]
