We’ve grown our safe accommodation options for survivors to include new fully furnished community units for families and individuals.

These give customers more independence in the community, while still providing them with support to recover from their experiences of domestic abuse.

For many customers, like Lisa* and her little girl, these homes have become a vital safe place in the community after being in controlling and abusive relationships for decades, and a place to find themselves again.

Lisa* was born into a home where domestic abuse took place and went on to have several violent and abusive relationships herself. After years of living on and off the streets, in February 2020 she was offered a place at Julia House refuge. Desperate for the opportunity, she moved in that same day with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She told us: “I’ve never felt as safe and supported in my life than when I was at Julia House – they listened when I cried and let me fall to pieces and picked those back up with proper foundations. If it wasn’t for them, I’d be dead now. My partner nearly killed me because I put in a statement against him, and that’s why I ended up at Glow.”

After 12 months of support at Julia House, she was told about the new community units: “Staff explained about the houses in the community, where you still have your support worker whenever you need them, just like in refuge.  They said it would help me progress back into the community and to eventually be without that support, because it’s a really hard transition to make.”

The community units are fully furnished, and come complete with everything from cutlery, to bedding, and from a TV to dining room chairs and tables. For many people fleeing abusive homes, they arrive with very little personal possessions and often very little money. So having these fully furnished homes means they can focus on recovering from the trauma without the additional stresses of building a home again.

“It’s such a massive transition that Glow have helped me make – I look back and just over a year ago I was heavily pregnant and homeless, and now I’m actually waking up to normal life. I never thought I’d get normal back.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, it is really. I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have this opportunity.”

Donna manages Julia House and the community units for Glow: “It’s fantastic to hear how much our support has helped Lisa and to hear her voice this.

“These new community units mean we can offer support to more people at different stages of their recovery – whether, like Lisa, they’ve come from refuge and need help to move back into the community, or they have just left a relationship but feel refuge isn’t the right option for them. It’s great to be able to offer choice.”