Women’s Trust Supports London Abuse Survivors with Help from Freemasons

WESTMINISTER-based Woman’s Trust is a charity that supports women who have experienced domestic abuse to rebuild their lives through specialist counselling, therapeutic support groups and psycho-educational workshops. Since it was established in 1996, it has helped over 19,600 women across London – face to face in venues in Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Newham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, as well as via remote channels when appropriate.

As the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that 1.4 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023, the work of Woman’s Trust could never be more important.

When women first come to Woman’s Trust, they report serious mental health impacts from the trauma of the abuse – 48% of their clients report depression; 21% report self-harming and 37% report suicidal feelings. Key outcomes of their services include helping women to improve their mental health, autonomy, self-care and to have healthier relationships.

Woman’s Trust provides women with up to 18 free sessions of trauma-informed counselling, enabling them to share their experiences and to be heard without judgement. Women begin to see themselves in a whole new light and make positive life changes:

Client testimonial:

‘My experience was life-changing. Woman’s Trust helped me rediscover who I am and want to be. Rediscovering the lost me has been a painful, exhausting journey but one worth it. Everything and who I am today has been fuelled by the support I received. Now I am a qualified counsellor and work with women and children to carry on with the change needed; my part of my place on earth.’

The £10,000 grant from the London Freemasons Charity will help fund this essential service for women across London, helping to reduce the patchwork of provision across the Capital, where certain boroughs have more funded support than others, making it a postcode lottery for women seeking help.

Woman’s Trust also offers therapeutic support groups and workshops which allow women to make connections with others who have had similar experiences, helping them to break out of the isolation the abuse has caused.

Client testimonial:

“Interacting with other survivors provided validation of my own experiences and that I was not alone. I made great progress with the support of everyone there.”

Heidi Riedel, CEO of Woman’s Trust, said:

“We are extremely grateful for the funding from the London Freemasons Charity. It has come when the charity and the women we serve are facing increasing challenges with the cost-of-living crisis increasing their isolation and impacting on their ability to flee.

“Support like this is really a lifeline to us and to our clients so that we can continue to provide mental health support through our specialist counselling, to those women who need it most, helping them to move forward and rebuild their lives, free from abuse.”

Paul King, from the London Freemasons, said:

“We are delighted to support the work Woman’s Trust does to support women in London who have experienced domestic abuse. They make a huge impact on 1,000s of people’s lives.”