I spent 6 months in a refuge, AMA

[legofansmum]

Ama

Working or as a refugee?

In a women's refuge , had to leave our property due to ex

How did you find it? Did it feel safe? We're the other women nice?

It definitely felt safe.
I will never forget the feeling of walking to the shops and knowing ex wasn't going to be around etc... we weren't even living in the same property when we were moved to the refuge, however, he constantly had awful rages at our home and had been housed nearby, me sing we shared then same shops etc

Did you receive support from agencies during that time and/ or beyond?

Did you stay in the same town? Were there places that he could have shown up at (your workplace, your family's home, your children's school) that you were worried he'd suddenly appear at?

What did you do after 6 months? Did you access housing through the local authority?

The other women were a real mixture .
It taught me a lesson as such, one girl arrived who I thought was a bit loud, looked troublesome but she was actually a lovely person with a heart of gold. She was amazing with my DC who has SEN.
There was a lady who looked quite serene etc but actually turned out to be a nightmare and made up lots of lies about people etc.. and was very cruel.
Such a mixture of women from all walks of life and Brie DC and you're all housed with your own bedroom but shared bathroom, kitchen and lounge.

did you get on with the other people in the refuge?
Was there good support (practical and emotional)?

At the time of moving in the police had been very good as had a local domestic abuse charity. The charity even paid for a taxi to take us to the refuge as I didn't have the funds.

It wasn't in our own town but was a smaller one in the same county.

Some support was amazing , lovely key worker.
One of the key workers, was very young, fresh out of uni and didn't really understand some of the issues women were facing and imdidmt deal with some clashes between women well.

I'm still in touch with some of the women today, one of them I hope I'll never set eyes on again.

No questions, just glad you got out and the national services did you good! X

Thank you Jack.

I'm very grateful, the thought of being stuck in our old property 2 streets away from ex would've been hell.

Yes housed in local authority property. Had to bid on a website. Tricky as needed something on a bus route and lots in that area were rural. Thankfully right property came up and I actually won the bid on my birthday!

So now you are getting where you need to be.

Took a big step a huge step and now your happier?