Trauma affects and shapes the lives of all the women One25 works with. Our relentless hope is that love and professional support can help them to make brave choices on their journeys to freedom.
The 215 volunteers and 40-strong staff team are wholly committed to these women’s futures, to One25’s vision and values. We are so proud of all the women have achieved.
Not celebrating our 25th birthday in May was the least of our concerns in lockdown. Many women were more isolated and at-risk than ever. Keeping them engaged with services remains our biggest challenge. But we kept going when the women needed us most. We adapted our services to provide food and essential items to women. The night outreach van still went out and we continued to give intensive support by phone. Women gave us so much feedback about what this meant to them. Suzie said:
You have been with me on my journey the whole time. You make me feel strong.
Our supporters and funders stayed with us through this too and we are hugely grateful. We were also able to access some emergency funding and I know that words and deeds of supporters helped us all through challenging times. Thank you.
We keep looking forwards and have just agreed the outline of our business plan for 2021-23. There is more we want to do for the women, further pathways beyond the trauma they live with so they can be independent.
Thank you for supporting these hopes and, most importantly, them.
Anna Smith, CEO
Every single interaction we have with a woman is important. Each relationship we build considers each woman’s experience. It means we are flexible, do not judge, we see her strengths, try to understand her behaviours. We work with and around her. We truly listen.
Jenny Riley, Operations Manager
It’s so important we train and support staff and volunteers to understand trauma. We take seriously our need to help with the very real impacts of secondary trauma, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout. We are a whole community, working together with the women.
Sophie Whitaker, Finance & Resources Manager
Women’s voices must be heard, their disadvantages understood and provided for. So we input into national research, present to strategic groups, advocate to other services and work with media and supporters to highlight their hidden needs. We fight to make sure they’re not overlooked.
Amy Sutcliffe, Fundraising & Communications Manager
