Volunteers Week: Celebrating Stockport OWLS group

Stockport OWLS – Ongoing Women’s Local Support – is a support group for women that have or are going through Domestic Abuse.

The group was set up by Claire Osment MBE and two other women who originally met in a local refuge and who recognised that support was still needed once they had left.

Stockport OWLS is now run by Claire’s daughter Courteney and a group of women volunteers who provide a support network to women victims of domestic abuse and signpost individual members to external agencies.

Many women who find themselves in an abusive relationship and home, feel isolated. It can sometimes be difficult for women to open up about their situation for many personal reasons. But in Stockport, they need to know they are not alone.

Stockport OWLS aim is to encourage, develop and motivate women through group participation.
By sharing their individual experiences, they can benefit and find reassurance from the support and understanding from others. Women in abusive relationships can learn new strategies for confronting and coping with problems.

By signposting members to relevant support agencies, Stockport OWLS can help to improve the lives of many women, and their families.

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We spoke to Claire who explained more about Stockport OWLS

How many women do you support?
We are currently working with 227 ladies

What do you find are the most common issues for women in an abusive relationship?
The most common issues of someone in an abusive relationship ship are

• Not knowing where to turn to for help
• Not knowing that they are in an abusive relationship and thinking the abuse is normal or even their fault, because we believe them when they tell us its our fault.
• Scared that we will have the children removed from us or that we will not be able to cope both mentally and financially.
• feel we will be judged and not believed
• housing or lack of

Is there a limit to the number of times women can attend / access your support group? 
No we have no limits to how many times a woman can attend or access our services.  They may feel they are in a better place and tell us that they no longer need us but then further on down the line they can have something happen and need to come back for support.  Another reason we have no limits as how long does it take to get over DA….I have been left nearly 11 years and still have triggers so putting limits in place will not work, we want them to be able to reach out to us and know that we are here for them.

Are you looking for additional volunteers to help provide your service?
Yes we are always looking out for volunteers both administrative and support workers.

If you’d like to offer your support as a volunteer or are in need of support, please contact: Claire Osment 

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Below is a great testimonial from someone who is stronger and more confident, thanks to OWLS: 

You can read more about Claire’s own story online at The Big Issue

Find out more on OWLS Facebook pages