We know from Police Reporting that 1/3 of the young people we work with are witnessing domestic abuse in their own homes*.

*Thames Valley Police report 2019

We have trained two workers to deliver Own My Life courses in The Branch, creating space for families to recover and heal, empowering them to build a brighter future.

32 women have attended our course.  A short documentary film Phoenix, made by our last amazing group of women, has been shared at regional policy strategy meetings and is also being used in staff training across organisations, including Thames Valley Police.

Domestic Abuse Support

We recognise that a large number of the children and families that we work with have experienced some form of domestic abuse. Our team are Domestic Abuse Champions, we work with a trauma informed approach to support victims and are passionate about reversing the rise in domestic abuse.

Adults

Own My Life is a 12-week in-person course which aims to help women who have been subjected to abuse to regain ownership of their lives. The group sessions give women the skills to understand abuse, make sense of their lives and move forward with hope and positivity. These sessions are then followed by 6 weeks of peer support sessions facilitated by a practitioner, but shaped and led by the women who choose to be involved. A focus on creativity is an important part of the innovative approach of Own My Life and the intention is that the women go on to discover their newly formed identity and pursue the goals and aspirations that have been restricted or halted by abuse whatever they look like. We take a holistic whole-family approach, providing 1:1 support for those on our programmes. As a member of OXDAP (Oxforshire DA Partnership) we work closely with other organisations, such as SAFE! and Reducing the Risk to signpost and refer into relevant services.

Children

In the primary school we are working with children to build resilience and to look at healthy relationships through a number of programmes (including Freedom for Children) we integrate with our Nurture Room sessions. We are working with Chipping Norton Theatre Outreach and Human Story Theatre to provide workshops on health relationships and body image.  

Teenagers

We work closely with the Chipping Norton School and youth focused organisations to ensure that young people are referred into appropriate services.

Outcome

We ran a Christmas wreath workshop with 12 women who are part of our domestic abuse support programme.Through this we identified two women who were interested in joining a local florist as apprentices – the first steps to rebuilding life and possibly a new career.

"There’s no judgement, just support, love, care and trust."

A mother of two who had to flee domestic abuse

Endorsement

"I am so glad we are able to work in partnership with you – it makes our job so much easier  and really improves the lives of our clients.”

Chipping Norton, Health Visitor