‘If we weren’t here, I don’t know where women would go’: WomenCentre on supporting women in Calderdale and Kirklees for 40 years

Each year, WomenCentre supports more than 3,000 women in Calderdale, Kirklees and beyond who face domestic violence, trauma, housing issues and poor mental health.

It provides many services under one roof, including drop-in sessions, wellbeing support, counselling, housing support, and self-awareness and confidence programmes.

Angela Everson, Chief Executive of WomenCentre, said: “If we weren’t here, I don’t know where women would go, in Calderdale or in Kirklees.”

“We are a safe space for women, and sometimes women just want that safe space.

“We take a trauma-informed approach to the work we do, our starting point is always to listen and not to judge and I think that’s why women come back and stay with us and get the support from us, because they feel that there’s a trust there with us.”

In 1985, the centre started out as the Calderdale Well Woman Association, occupying one floor of a building on Harrison Road in Halifax.

In the early days, there were just two or three part-time staff members and volunteers who worked there there, providing some drop-in activities, information leaflets, and there was a small counselling room which doubled up as a pregnancy testing room.

Since then, the centre has developed into a bigger operation, merging with Womenspace Kirklees in 2008 to become WomenCentre, and offering more services to more people.

It became one of the first organisations nationally to have a YPVA (young person’s violence advocate) and now participates in regional and national discussions on women’s safety, women in the criminal justice system and women’s health and wellbeing.

Throughout the centre’s development, its leaders worked hard to secure national funding, which enabled the organisation to buy its own building in the early 2000s in central Halifax – where it still operates its Calderdale services from today.

Therese came to the centre in 2013 after being encouraged to access support by a relative.

She was homeless, and experiencing controlling and coercive behaviour in her marriage.

She said: “I was a complete wreck. I did nothing but cry all the time. I was on medication, I was suicidal.

“I didn’t even know what day it was,” she added.

Therese participated in the centre’s 12-week Freedom Programme – a course which helps women recognise controlling behaviour – alongside an 8-week counselling course, which helped her understand what had been happening in her own relationship.

Speaking about participating in the programme, Therese said: “I thought that his behaviour was normal because he loved me.”

She described the programme giving her a ‘lightbulb moment’: “I remember telling the person leading it [...] I actually feel you’ve been talking about the person I’ve been married to all these years; he’s a narcissist.

“It really blew me away.”

“This programme got me where I am today and saved my life,” she added.

The centre also helped her fill out a financial support application, and provided a confidence builder course, as well as a support worker who attended court and helped Therese navigate her divorce.

“The very thing I lost through my marriage was my voice. I had no voice, couldn’t speak – I wasn’t allowed to.

“I learnt to get that back, and use it to help other people. That gives you strength,” she said.

To other women unsure of accessing the centre, Therese said: “I know what it’s like to live on a pound a day, being 60 and homeless.

“You can do it, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. You’ve just got to find that way.

“This is a place where a woman can come and feel cared for, nurtured and encouraged to find their way.

“Just try it. You’ll never look back.”

Therese later returned to the WomenCentre as a volunteer, supporting other women through the Freedom Programme.

She now has a safe home and has been part of a creative group for the last eight years.

But she considers herself lucky to have found the WomenCentre, and said more services need to signpost women to get help there.

She said: “I was one of the lucky ones, but there’s a lot of people who slip through the net.”

“There needs to be more help, there needs to be more support and more opportunities for people to be able to find it and [be] pointed in the right direction,” she added.

For more information about WomenCentre’s services see www.womencentre.org.uk or e-mail [email protected]