Just For Women Centre (JFWC) is a social enterprise dedicated to providing tailored support to victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the community of Stanley, County Durham. Its vision is to empower women, children, and their families to live safely, achieve financial stability, and lead enriched lives.
JFWC aims to address the constraints of mental health challenges, poverty, domestic violence, and worklessness, from working directly with women at its Centre through to advocating for better services for women at a local and national level. The Centre is a safe haven for women, providing a non-judgmental and non-threatening environment where individuals can be heard, and their experiences valued.
Services at JFWC include:
Holistic therapeutic care: Group work and 1:1 support, including creative and psychoeducational therapy.
Peer groups & workshops: Ongoing support ranging from yoga and sewing classes, to addressing anxiety and chronic illness/fatigue.
Support into employment: Upskilling women to develop their careers or start their own businesses. JFWC offers training, personal development programmes, employment support and direct work experience through its in-house café: Thornleyholme Tearooms.
Awareness and advocacy: Empowering women to raise awareness and advocate for women’s issues through local partnership working, such as with the local Police & Crime Commissioner.
The need for holistic services is evident considering the prevalence of domestic abuse, mental health issues, and unemployment in the community. County Durham faces disproportionately high levels of worklessness, and a significant portion of the population in Stanley resides in areas of high deprivation, where women are 40% more likely to experience domestic violence. Many local organisations have closed their doors over the years meaning the demand for JFWC is growing.
In the past year, JFWC has received a significant number of referrals for young women and girls in need of support for issues related to sexual violence and assault. Due to closures of other local centres and long waiting times for statutory services, JFWC has been asked to step in to support these young people. At the same time, JFWC has identified a gap in support for older women who have faced historic domestic and sexual abuse. In the past, many women have struggled to speak up about their experiences of domestic abuse, and the number of women reaching out for support has grown since public campaigns such as #MeToo. The re-processing of this trauma is causing a serious impact on women’s mental health and many have left (or are at risk of leaving) their jobs. As there is no immediate risk of physical harm to these women, they are struggling to access other services.
Due to gaps in local services for these two groups, JFWC identified a need to design a new programme of support tailored to their unique needs. The Foundation is supporting JFWC to launch ‘Healing Together’, a year-long trauma-informed support programme for older women who have experienced historic sexual or domestic abuse, and young survivors of domestic abuse aged 11-18.
This pilot project will primarily focus on group work – creative workshop sessions and group therapy. Sessions will focus on building resilience, self-esteem, and healthy coping strategies. JFWC will offer creative and therapeutic outlets for expression and healing, and participants will foster peer connection to reduce isolation. As with all of JFWC’s programmes, participants will filter into further support opportunities such as peer groups, skills workshops, volunteering and employment support. Particularly for older women, support will focus on rebuilding their confidence to ensure they can stay in their existing jobs. For young women, JFWC would like to focus on creating new peer groups based on their interests, needs and experiences to encourage personal growth and build lasting social connections.
JFWC seeks to learn from the successes and challenges of this pilot, and share these with local referral organisations to improve the availability of services for younger women and older women facing historic abuse. The Foundation will support JFWC with this work, as well as embedding sustainability into the organisation through further developing its funding streams and organisational planning.
