CCG Crookston Community Group Helpline. 🙌

She had fled from an abusive relationship with her two children and was living with elderly relatives. She had very low self-confidence, and was so worried that her previous partner would find her she rarely left the home. Her anxiety affected the children, who often refused to go to school because of their fear. The strain of the overcrowding in the house was causing friction between she and her relatives, who were very sympathetic but were in poor health themselves.

This person was encouraged to contact us by a neighbour of her relatives. We arranged a home visit and spent several hours talking through the whole family's situation. Our adviser worked with her to make an application to the local housing association; to talk to a friendly teacher at the school the children attended to explain her situation; to start addressing her financial situation as she had been too scared to register for benefits for fear of being found. We also arranged for her elderly relatives to spend a day a week at a local community centre's lunch club, so everyone had some space and time apart and the relatives could gain advice about their health which made major improvements all round.

She was supported by a mentor to attend our Confidence In Me course and from this went on to join the peer support group for survivors of domestic violence. Her kindness and sympathy with other members made her very popular and Jane approached us to ask if she could volunteer with us on our helpline. We were doubtful if she was ready to take this on and instead recommended that she volunteered in our charity shop. She found this work rewarding and shared with us that she had previously worked in retail. Her ideas about displaying donated goods and advertising them on social media made a real difference to sales. After six months, we were able to offer her a permanent paid position in the shop.