A safe, just and equal world for women

I survived Covid, then in April 2022, my husband had a heart attack which led to him having a bypass. This signalled a ramping up of the abuse I was already experiencing. His heart attack was probably MY fault in HIS eyes. The anger and abuse continued daily and loudly.…

I got arrested for drug dealing when I was still in my teens. At the police station, an Advance keyworker came to speak to me and support me. She was the first person to ask me about MY life, about what was going on in it. And how I was…

I started drinking a lot, to make the attacks less painful. My family contacted social services and neighbours constantly called the police when they heard or saw Ben attacking me. Then in August 22, he launched a particularly vicious attack on me in the street near my flat. As I…

I am a filmmaker and up until late 2020 was living in New York, travelling a lot with my work. On a trip to London, I met a man, fell in love and ended up getting married. I suffered low self-esteem for most of my life, and he was the…

I was in my early 20s in love and happy when I fell pregnant. Then he hit me for the first time. And he carried on. The abuse escalated. He threatened me with a knife, a gun and even threw me out of a window.

My domestic abuse situation was family – both of my parents, my sister. I lived with them and they were all abusive. There was all kinds of abuse except for sexual abuse. A lot of psychological torture. There was physical abuse, which was quite severe, quite frequent. Eventually that became…

When Jasmine left her abusive husband, she ended up suicidal, homeless and in debt. Now, with the support of Advance, she’s taking steps to heal and create a new life for herself.

My husband treated me as a second-class citizen. I was not allowed my own bank account, despite holding down an office job. I could not spend time with friends unless granted by my husband. He would and tell them they were not needed.

Five years ago, the abuse escalated, when Hafsa’s mother discovered she was in a relationship with a man her mother did not approve of. Her mother’s objection was partly due to her wish for Hafsa to marry the son of a family friend. Hafsa expressed concern that she could be…