Member Spotlight: Own My Life
Date published:
This week we caught up with the team at the inspiring training providers to find out how they’re going further with Chamber membership.
Where are you based?
We are based in Sunderland/The World!
How many employees do you have?
Everyone works with us freelance (5/6 people)
Give us a brief overview of your business.
Own My Life is a transformative way of enabling women who have been subjected to abuse to regain ownership of their lives.
Own My Life is delivered with groups and one-to-one across the UK, Ireland and beyond by local organisations trained by us. Since 2019, over 14,000 women have accessed Own My Life and they tell us that is has been life-saving and life changing.
Tell us about a recent business success.
Can we tell you about a few?
We recently launched our FREE Counter-Parenting resource, which is for anyone dealing with their partner or ex who uses the children to control or hurt them. The resource includes both a video and resource pack, and we’re really proud to have been able to make this freely available to everyone via our website: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/counterparenting
On a recent trip to Ireland to meet organisations who use Own My Life with women, our CEO Natalie was delivering a presentation to a multi-agency group. She asked if anyone had questions and one woman after another raised their hands to tell Natalie, and the rest of those gathered about how Own My Life had changed their life. One woman was there with her baby girl, and shared that prior to Own My Life her baby had been placed into foster care due to the abuser’s behaviour. She explain that Own My Life had given her the knowledge and skills to take back ownership of her life, and in less than a month her little girl would be permanently returned to her care. What more success could there be than a mammy getting her little girl back forever? (You can read more about the Irish trip: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/post/irish-tour-day-3-and-my-heart-got-fuller).
We have been part of the wonderful Tina’s Haven pilot in County Durham; in partnership with Addictions North East and the Barn at Easington. Through this pilot, we saw women taking back ownership of their lives and built strong relationships with other services in the north east. The impact of Own My Life on the women and practitioners in the project was brilliant and we were delighted to see so much of it reflected in the evaluation report delivered by Dr Sue Robson’s, an academic with strong roots in the north east. (You can read more about the Tina’s Haven pilot: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/post/in-love-and-anger).
Further afield, we have been working with an Australian practitioner to see the first ever Own My Life course piloted with women in Victoria, in the southeastern Australia. We’ve had to develop some Australian materials for this pilot, which is currently taking place and due to finish in the Autumn. We’re hearing that already course participants are finding the content enlightening and we are so excited that, from the beautiful city of Sunderland, Own My Life is going global!
How has being a Chamber member impacted your growth and networking opportunities?
Through the NECC we have met some brilliant organisations. The Chamber team, especially Natalie Connolly, have been enthusiastic and proactive in promoting our work and cheering us on. We are so passionate about women achieving their potential and building sisterhood, and so the Chamber’s Inspiring Females work is an absolute joy. In the 2023 Inspiring Females awards, our CEO Natalie Collins, received an award which was personally and professionally encouraging, and brought our charity’s work to a bigger audience. We love that the way the NECC, and especially Ashley Carney works to make the Inspiring Females events inclusive, expansive and wonderfully positive. Through our involvement in the Chamber we have also developed our corporate offer (which can be found here: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/corporates).
Where can we find you?
You can visit our website: http://ownmylifecourse.org or on our socials below: