Voices of Hope, a Kingston-based domestic abuse charity, will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Friday 31 January at Kings Gate Church.
The afternoon event will run from 3.30pm to 5.30pm and include games and cakes. There will also be talks from domestic abuse survivors. Volunteers and women who have been supported by Voices of Hope are welcome to attend the celebration.
One woman supported by Voices of Hope, told the Kingston Courier about her abusive relationship. She said: “He just wanted to control me the whole time. He had a mental illness called bipolar disorder. I never knew what mood I was going to find him in every day.”
She added: “I did leave, and I went back because he said ‘I’m sorry’. I went back believing him. Within a week it would be back to how it was.”
Voices of Hope works alongside Kingston’s Women’s Hub and other charities like Refuge to help women leaving such relationships, offering systemic change via childcare, crisis and individual support.
Jiska Stieler, the Kingston Women’s Hub Coordinator, said: “All we do is we empower the ladies. We walk with them from at risk to thriving.”
She added: “Abuse silences your voice, it takes away your courage to speak up and it tells you that something is wrong with you, but actually, it isn’t the woman who is wrong.”
The women also have access to the charity’s Sisterhood choir and a space called the Sanctuary, where well-being sessions and cooking classes are organised to teach them about healthy nutrition.
According to Stieler, 65% of the women who have come to the Sanctuary in 2024 have attended the sessions for over two years.
There are 16 sisterhood choirs across west London and Surrey, organised in care homes, day centres and churches like Kings Gate Church.
The charity was founded by Sarah Clay, a domestic abuse survivor herself, in 2019 with creativity and music as the basis to connect people.
With the help of Kingston Council, the Voices of Hope Survivor’s Forum is another initiative for domestic abuse survivors to have their voices heard.
The women in the Survivor’s Forum co-produced the Kingston Violence Against Women Strategy 2024-2029, which will be released in March 2025.
You can book your free tickets to the the charity’s fifth anniversary or donate to Voices of Hope here.
If you need support, call Refuge’s Helpline or the National Domestic Abuse Helpline available 24/7 here.
