‘Free inside’ and starting afresh
Katy’s marriage started well. She and her husband were living in different countries, but he visited often, and was kind and attentive. But after he brought her to live with him in the UK, things changed.
‘He lost his business, and he became a very stressed and angry person,’ says Katy. ‘The change started slow but it became very big. He lost himself.’
Too scared to stay, nowhere to go
‘I tried to be patient, thinking he would feel better and it would be ok, but he saw that as weakness and it made him worse.’
‘By this time, my daughter was a toddler, and my son was a new born baby. He was so violent, including in front of the children, shouting and screaming. My little girl, she would cry.’
‘I realised one day it was too much, I felt like I was going to explode. I knew I had to get us out of there, so I ran.’
Katy didn’t know where to go with her babies, so she fled to a friend’s house. She was confused, and called around different places asking for help.
‘I couldn't go back home. I felt like there is no step [forward to take], nothing that would change my life or save me. I was crying, I felt like I was dying minute by minute.’
In the end, Katy called the police, who provided support and helped collect some things she needed from her house.
A few weeks after, Katy and her children moved into our newly converted family safe house.
“I’m not the same person as before. Before I was worried about everything. Scared of everything. I wasn’t free inside. So now I’m being myself, bit by bit.”
A new world
Katy says she felt safe as soon as she arrived at the Ella’s safe house (pictured below).
‘I closed the door, I felt happy; I said, ‘Thank you God’.’
Katy’s support worker has been helping her recover, and gain the confidence, knowledge and capacity she needs to build a safe future. ‘I had so many problems to fix, as well as my home situation. We are fixing them now one by one.’
‘Ella’s have helped me with practical things - my husband didn’t let me do or learn anything, so even simple things I need help learning. Plus things like getting child benefit, which I didn’t have before, and working on immigration problems.’
‘My mental health has improved too, I'm not the same person as before. Before I was worried about everything. Scared of everything. I wasn’t free inside. So now I’m being myself, bit by bit.’
Katy is ambitious, she wants to have her own beauty business some day, and to see her children happy and provided for.
‘I found a team and support from...new people in my life. I feel like I can throw my past... behind me, and start fresh. So this is what helps. It's a lot. I used to feel weak, but now I am convinced that I am strong.’
Join us to be there for Mums like Katy and children like hers.