14/09/2026
Good Morning Beautiful Souls it's DAY 14 of my
Step Forward Challenge ~ of raising vital funds for Women’s Aid.
I'm not sure that people fully understand the scale of what Women's Aid actually does.
It is so much bigger than the refuge door I walked through 12 years ago.
And in my post today I want you to know more about where your donation can go.
You're not just donating money to a charity.
You're helping build the safety net around a woman.
Let me explain.
Women’s Aid's latest Annual Audit estimates that around 2 million women and 2.5 million children experienced domestic abuse in England in the year ending March 2025.
Yet only around 7% of women and children who experienced domestic abuse were supported by a refuge or community-based service.
And here's the statistic that i'd like for people to understand.
65.2% of referrals to refuge services were rejected in 2024–25.
The highest proportion since 2019–20.
The most common reason?..there wasn't enough space or capacity.
Think about that!!
A woman has reached the point where someone has referred her to a refuge.
She has taken that terrifying step.
She may have left her home, maybe talked to the police in a hospital and then she has finally said:
“I need somewhere safe.”
And there may not be room.
That is not a statistic to me.
I know what that door meant.
I know what it meant to have somewhere to go.
But Women's Aid doesn't simply help women find somewhere to sleep.
They work across the entire landscape of domestic abuse.
They support specialist services.
They collect and publish national evidence.
They campaign for change.
They influence policy.
They train professionals.
They provide education.
They support children and young people.
They work to change the systems that survivors have to navigate.
And this matters because education can stop abuse being normalised in the first place.
Women’s Aid's Expect Respect programme works with children and young people aged 4–18 to help them understand healthy relationships, unhealthy relationships and domestic abuse.
The independent evaluation published in January 2026 found that after the programme, young people aged 11–18 were 2.5 times more likely to say they knew who they could talk to if they were concerned about a relationship.
More than 90% of school staff said the training improved their understanding of domestic abuse and their confidence in responding to disclosures.
Think about what that means.
A child learning that controlling behaviour isn't love.
A teenager learning what coercive control looks like.
A teacher knowing what to do when a child discloses something frightening.
That is prevention.
And Women’s Aid is also training the professionals who come into contact with survivors.
Its expanded 2026 training includes specialist areas such as coercive control, economic abuse, stalking and harassment, domestic abuse protection orders and housing, alongside professional qualifications and programmes supporting women, children and families.
Because imagine finally telling somebody you're being abused,
and the person you're telling doesn't understand coercive control.
Doesn't recognise economic abuse.
Doesn't understand why you can't simply leave.
Doesn't understand the level of risk.
Doesn't know how to respond safely.
The response you receive can matter enormously.
This is why specialist services matter.
And this is why I'm asking you to look differently at your donation.
You're not just funding a refuge.
You're helping support:
A woman trying to escape.
A child trying to understand what is happening at home.
A teacher learning how to recognise abuse.
A professional learning how to respond safely.
A survivor trying to rebuild her life.
Research that exposes what is really happening.
Campaigning that challenges the systems survivors have to navigate.
And the specialist services that are there when someone finally says, “I need help.”
And I know this because I was once that woman.
I didn't need somebody to tell me to be stronger.
I didn't need somebody to ask:
“Why didn't you leave sooner?”
I needed someone who understood.
I needed somewhere safe.
I needed practical help.
I needed support with money.
Housing.
Legal matters.
Mental health.
And Safety.
I needed people who understood that leaving wasn't the end of the story.
It was the beginning.
That is what Women’s Aid helped give me.
A beginning.
And now I'm walking 60 miles because I want another woman to have that opportunity.
But here is the part I want you to really think about.
We cannot keep telling women to leave if there isn't enough support waiting for them when they do.
We cannot tell survivors to speak if the services they speak to don't have capacity.
We cannot tell children to recognise unhealthy relationships without giving the adults around them the knowledge to respond.
We cannot expect specialist services to keep doing life-saving work while they are fighting for funding.
Something has to change.
And we can all be part of that change.
If everyone i know just gave £5 imagine what a difference that could make to ....
Capacity.
Support.
Education.
Training.
Safety.
Choice.
Freedom.
If you genuinely can't donate, please share this post.
Because your share might reach someone who can.
It might reach someone who needs help.
It might reach someone who has never understood why leaving isn't simply walking out of a door.
Or one of my posts might reach a woman who is sitting somewhere right now wondering whether she is imagining it.
Whether it's really abuse.
Whether she's making a fuss.
Whether she's the problem.
I want her to know she isn't.
I want her to know that coercive control is abuse.
That fear is not love.
That isolation is not love.
That monitoring is not love.
That controlling money is not love.
That making someone feel they cannot survive without you is not love.
And that she deserves help.
She deserves a way out.
I had one.
And I will never stop being grateful that I did.
So yes,
I'm walking 60 miles.
But the walking is only the visible part.
The real reason I'm walking is because I know what happens when the support is there.
A woman gets a chance to rebuild.
And I want more women to get that chance.
So please,
HELP ME MAKE THE WAY OUT POSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
With Love and Gratitude
Julia~Dorne, Archie~Moon & Oscar~Magic 🩷
🩷 DONATION LINK
https://womensaidfederationofengland.enthuse.com/pf/julia-dorne
🩷 Throughout the month of September I'll walk 60 miles with my boys Archie~Moon and Oscar~Magic beside me every step of the way. 🐾🐶💖🐶🐾 The 60 miles aren't really about how far I can walk, they'r
