Case Studies

County: London Borough of Hillingdon

Funding Theme: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Amount secured: £6,121

Contract period: 6 weeks

Website: https://hillingdonwomenscentre.org/

Charity: Hillingdon Women’s Centre

About the project

Pathways to Healing is an exclusive 6-week group programme designed for women who have survived Domestic Abuse (DA) and are ready to embark on their journey of healing.

The programme offered support, strategies, and resources to the women, encouraging them to be resilient and set goals for the future. In addition, participants were given handouts, a wellbeing journal, and a 'comfort kit’ that encouraged self-care.

The sessions were delivered as holistically as possible and during the six weeks, the following topics were covered: Awareness of DA and a gender perspective; Self-esteem, myths and misconceptions of abuse; Warning signs of abuse and understanding trauma; The wider impact of DA, healthy relationships and setting boundaries; Emotional resilience and Making positive changes; and setting goals to move forward.

The workshops included educational learning with group discussions, story sharing, interactive activities, and grounding exercises to encourage women to prioritise their mental well-being.

The project was monitored in various ways, including equality and attendance data, feedback forms, case studies, and, importantly, using the ‘Star Outcomes tool’ to assess women's progress on the programme known as their ‘journey of change’. The pre-and post-delivery one-to-one sessions offered an opportunity to identify potential areas of progress and highlight further support needs.

With support from the LHC Community Benefit Fund, from April 2023 to December 2023, Hillingdon Women’s Centre delivered three Pathways to Healing cohorts.

Mission

The programme was created to support women affected by Domestic Abuse and help them improve their self-esteem and confidence, reduce isolation, and improve overall well-being. The objective was to give them a safe environment to learn, share, and grow. This was not therapy or counselling, but to give them essential core knowledge and understanding to develop the confidence they need to improve their lives.

Impact

The planned activities/outputs had a direct impact on the overall well-being and self-esteem of the participants. ‘The Empowerment Star’ showed that 94% of participants progressed towards empowerment & self-esteem, whereas 82% identified an improvement in Health & well-being. It’s important to note that 82% of women improved their support networks, which eventually will have a long-term impact on their emotional health and well-being. In addition, 88% of women participating also felt safer due to the knowledge and information they received.

This data highlights that 100% of women progressed in at least three outcome areas. These results are encouraging, given the short time frame of support. With the overwhelming number of participants noticing improvements in their self-esteem and self-confidence, some have reported that they now feel confident to work on new self-development goals, such as attending education/training courses, seeking new employment opportunities, undertaking parenting support courses, and accessing counselling support.

Moving forward

 “This programme has encouraged women to think positively about themselves and the future and to start taking steps toward an independent life free of violence and control. We are grateful to the LHC Community Fund for enabling us to deliver this valuable service to women in our community,” says a report by the Hillingdon Women’s Centre.

The program is now considering extending its service hours to deliver an ‘out of hours’ session, either one evening in the week or on the weekend, to support women who may not typically be able to attend during our core business hours.

About LHC Community Benefit Fund

In each region, LHC members have the opportunity to create and distribute a Community Benefit Fund generated from the rebate they receive if they spend over a specified threshold on LHC frameworks. Further, an independent community benefit agency is also appointed to work with the members to find a local charity partner. For London and the Southeast, LHC works closely with Locality- the specialist community support network. Now in its fifth year, the fund has invested just short of £425,000 across 74 community projects, targeting a diverse range of needs.

For more information on Locality and their work, visit: www.locality.org.uk