One Woman's Voice - Resettlement

"We stayed at the refuge for 6 months.  We moved out into rented accommodation and went into the Resettlement programme.  I found it very stressful moving out of the refuge.  I'd finally found somewhere I felt safe and I wanted us to get on with our lives but I was worried about security in my new property.  I think the resettlement service is imperative and I couldn't imagine the refuge without it.

Personally, the resettlement work has helped prevent me going back.

The weekly support group has been brilliant.  We are all very vulnerable when we move out but in the group you can see how people have grown.  I did the Changing Lives programme which made me stronger.  I think Changing Lives has given people the opportunity to heal themselves.  It's like that Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish; feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime."

For my son, it's a valuable interaction with other children and he does so many different activities.  It also gives him a sense of continuity as he is able to see his Support Worker on a weekly basis even though we have moved from the refuge.

The last two years have been hard, I'm not kidding myself.  As well as going through a healing process I've been getting to know myself and finding out what kind of person I am and who I want to be.

I have recently been offered a place at university and I start my four year course in September.  I am moving again, but I now look at life as a full on adventure and am not fearful of moving this time as I know I can do it."