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Experience of
Domestic Abuse

We are passionate about working with people who have been affected by domestic abuse. Meeting people where they are at, and coming alongside them to help empower them, ensures that they can build their self-confidence and enter the future with hope.

As part of our aim to encourage and empower women, all of our hubs offer the ‘Own My Life’ course specifically created for women who have experienced domestic abuse. This is an innovative, creative and educational 12-week course that seeks to support women in regaining ownership of their lives whilst explaining key concepts in easy to understand terms.

Recognizing the unique needs of incarcerated women, we piloted the first ever collaboration between a prison and the Women’s Liberation Collective to deliver the ‘Own My Life’ course to women actively serving sentences. Through day release (ROTL), participants were able to access this transformative programme from within the community.

Natalie from the Women’s Liberation Collective said this about us: “Handcrafted creates hope-filled, joyful spaces to enable women to own their lives.  We love their open hearted support of women, their willingness to try new things, and the ways they meaningfully value our partnership to make the biggest difference to women’s lives”.

Building on this work, we are due to work with Natalie to pioneer a version of ‘Own My Life’ tailored specifically for girls and young women.

Beyond this, each hub provides a safe, welcoming, and psychologically informed space specifically designed to support individuals affected by domestic abuse. Providing person-centred support, our aim is to provide a supportive environment where trainees can engage in activities - from woodworking to craft activities - that promote healing and self-expression. Our offering is carefully facilitated to help build confidence, foster emotional resilience, and encourage positive social connections. Alongside learning new skills, individuals benefit from opportunities to share experiences, receive peer support, and enjoy refreshments in a compassionate community setting dedicated to their recovery and empowerment.

Make a referral to one of our hubs by following this link.

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Testimonials

There are countless challenges and barriers between our Fairchance service users and a healthy, productive and satisfying life.

We often use the term ‘chaotic lifestyle’ to describe the multitude of issues they face, and we contrast this lifestyle with an ideal that is secure, positive, stable and fulfilling. Often people looking in on the lifestyles of our service users find them intimidating, disorientating and full of risk – it should be no surprise that the same is true the other way around. For our service users who are looking into employment, education and stable accommodation, what they often see is a very unfamiliar culture and environment that they are unable to navigate.

Handcrafted helps to bridge this gap. It’s a middle ground between work and leisure where our service users are building confidence, self-esteem, working relationships, responsibilities, a sense of achievement. As a natural consequence of this and armed with the skills necessary to make this transition our service users are developing goals and ambitions and making plans for the futures that they are beginning to see as a reality for themselves.

Joe, Fair Chance Project, Oasis Aquila Housing

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