We have been running a weekly support group for residents and ex residents of our refuge for the last 9 years.
It’s a group that aims to give a consistent support network for women after they have moved out of the refuge, giving them a chance to maintain friendships, continue to get help and advice, and to learn about new things. We thought we’d let you know what they’ve been up to.
Learn
Gemma Scott Health Visitor Domestic violence lead, attended the support group to discuss the hidden sugars in food. The group were amazed to find out how much sugar is in the food & drinks we have on a daily basis. A Chinese meal consisting of sweet & sour chicken, egg fried rice and spring rolls has 15 spoonfuls of sugar. Gemma completed a quiz, it was great fun because all members of the group were so wrong with the amount of sugar in certain foods!
We also had Debbie Lancaster; the Community Engagement Officer, and Kelly Prendergast from Job Centre Plus attend the support group. We had a very serious morning as the members of the support group were very interested in the change to universal credit which will come into force in 2017.
Create
A whole morning spent knitting and chatting! A resident was showing anyone that need help to cast on and how to knit a simple plain stitch. We decided as a group that we will have a Knit & Chat morning once a month starting in September.
Learning to Knit!
Share
Sometimes we just don’t feel like being productive! We decided that we just wanted to sit and talk. We discussed many things from babies (as we had 4 babies at the group), hair & beauty, and housing. An ex resident who is a hairdresser has arranged to cut & colour a residents hair whilst another ex-resident threaded members of the support group eyebrows, everyone that had threading done always feel it is such a treat.
Raise
Recently we decided that we would run a second hand clothes shop once a month at the support group using donations that the residents didn’t want and leftover bits from the shop. We ran a very successful shop and made almost £40 to go back into Oasis. We had so much fun and lots of laughter and proved just how easy and stress free a bit of fundraising can be!