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A promise that life can be exciting and rewarding. She can find her voice, her courage, her confidence, her choice. Somewhere to be and belong, to accept herself. Encouraged in recovery or invited to begin. Or just welcomed.
Workshops and wellbeing. Making sense of feelings, learning how to manage life, relationships, time and money, how to care for herself. A time and place to grow into the freedom she was born with. A time to thrive.
"Coming to Peony makes me feel calm, everyone's so welcoming, it's made a real difference to my life and I'm feeling more confident already."
- Sally
Peony offers five afternoons of therapeutic and meaningful activity to Bristol women who have faced multiple disadvantages. It’s central to One25’s vision to see marginalised women move from crisis to community.
Women can access Peony who have experienced three of these disadvantages: homelessness, offending, mental ill health, substance misuse, domestic and/or sexual violence, or having had children removed from their care.
Peony women can develop their wellbeing and skills so they can reach their goals in the community. Ultimately, we hope to support women to find work and become emotionally and financially independent.
Sessions at Peony include art, craft, cooking, budgeting and money skills, book club, cooking, wellbeing activities like yoga, exercise, volunteering, employability and education.
The programme is staffed by a team of fantastic workshop facilitators and volunteers (some with lived experience of these issues) as well as a manager, coordinator and two support workers.
Since launching in September 2018, women have come to Peony from One25 (including Pause) as well as via referrals from other agencies in Bristol. Golden Key (a research project for systems change) recently said:
“The Peony project at One25 was identified multiple times by survey participants as a service with a gender- and trauma-informed approach at its centre… Peony was identified as actively upholding trauma-informed values such as choice and empowerment and for focusing on how they engage with women i.e. in a way that feels safe and that meets women where they are.”
