VOLUNTEERS CAN HELP ABUSE VICTIMS TO GET LIFE BACK AND ‘GLOW’

‘Proof you can come out the other side’

A DOMESTIC abuse charity is on the lookout for volunteers to help continue its vital work in ending relationship abuse.

Glow, part of the Honeycomb Group, supports women, men and children.

This includes providing safe accommodation, offering support and working to end abuse at the source by working with perpetrators and delivering relationship education in schools and colleges.

Glow is now looking for more volunteers, including those with lived experience, to help them develop their support even further.

There are lots of online and in-person opportunities, ranging from answering inquiries to co-facilitating group support programmes.

Glow’s group programmes give people the chance to come together with others who have also faced abuse in their relationships.

This helps alleviate feelings of isolation and lets them know that what they’re feeling is normal.

A Glow volunteer who is not being named to protect her identity, has taken part in both programmes. She now supports two of the charity’s programmes as a volunteer.

She was with her abusive expartner for six years, but she had experienced abusive partners since her first relationship at 13. She had faced years of abuse and nearly took her own life – until she found Glow.

She now gives back to people facing abuse as a volunteer, using her own lived experience.

She said: “Before I came to Glow, I had nowhere to turn.

“I looked online to see what help was available. That’s when I found Glow and gave them a call.

“I can still remember my first session of the Freedom programme.

“It was hard because it was the first step, but the atmosphere was just lovely. You quickly realise just how many people are in the same situation as you.

“When you’re in an abusive relationship you can become so isolated and lose your friends. Now I can be whoever I want to be and do whatever I like – it’s been absolutely lifechanging.

“Volunteering and giving back has helped me to take back control of what I went through. I’d love for people to see me as proof that you can come out the other side.”

Operations manager Jackie Capewell said: “We offer lots of training and support so volunteers can learn and develop while they help keep our services running to a high standard.”