One year into the Government’s 10-year strategy to halve men’s violence against women and girls, Own My Life is bringing together leading voices from the women’s sector, creative practitioners and campaigners to reflect on progress, challenge existing approaches and imagine what meaningful change could look like. What does it really take to respond to men’s violence against women and girls? And one year into the Government’s 10-year strategy to halve it, are we asking the rig

Last month, I had the privilege of spending time with the Home Office, contributing to important work exploring fraud through abuse of position and bringing my own experience of coercive control and economic abuse into the conversation.

Sunderland's lovely seafront! Although our charity's reach is across the UK and Ireland (and sometimes further afield, like Australia!), we do all of our work from our based in Sunderland, in north east England. We are proud that our work is delivered from such a beautiful city by the sea! And this week, we’re delighted to share that Own My Life’s awards season has been featured in our local newspaper, the Sunderland Echo! We are celebrating after Lover Liar Predator, a BBC d

Our Brilliant Training Week! What a week! It was our October Own My Life facilitator training this week and it was beautiful! One of my favourite comments was from a participant who said she was so annoyed with her manager for being made to come on the training because she hates training, but she has absolutely loved it! This is what participants said: Bloody brilliant course.🤩 The best most inspiring training I have ever done.🏆 Own My Life is not just training, it is an ex

We are thrilled to celebrate the news that Lover Liar Predator, the powerful film featuring the work of Own My Life, has been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA. The nomination is a huge moment for the filml and for the four women whose stories sit at its heart: our founder, Natalie Collins, Robyn, who attended an Own My Life course, and Shannon* and Jenni. All four women were abused by the same man. Lover Liar Predator tells the complicated and courageous story of how his abuse

Contributors to Stronger Than You Think (L-R: Tim, Natalie, Sai Sai, Tracie, and Sherry. This week Own My Life had a joyous event to celebrate the release of Professor Sherry Hamby's new book Stronger Than You Think; Four Pillars for a Stronger and More Resilient You. The book enables readers to understand how we can all build the pieces of a good life, and this event sought to share some of that knowledge, not only with the live online audience, but also with you who can now

We’re utterly delighted to share that the Own My Life podcast has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Independent Podcast Awards in the Best Limited Series category! This is a huge honour - and one we want to celebrate with all the women whose voices, stories, courage and creativity are at the heart of the series. What are the Independent Podcast Awards? The Independent Podcast Awards celebrate podcasts made independently of the large commercial podcast networks and product

We are absolutely thrilled to celebrate the news that Lover, Liar, Predator, the powerful documentary featuring Own My Life, has been shortlisted for a Grierson Award in the Best Crime and Justice Documentary category (information HERE). The Grierson Awards, also known as the British Documentary Awards, are one of the most significant celebrations of documentary filmmaking in the UK. Established in 1972, they recognise documentaries from Britain and around the world that demo

What a wonderful week of training with marvellous practitioners who gave great feedback! "The training has been exceptional."🤩 "Intense, powerful and straightforward."🫵🏼 "It's life changing. All girls & women should receive it!"🚺 "Love the content and the way it’s been put together."💖 "Useful not just for delivering training but also in our day to day life."💥 "The course has been such an inspiring and invaluable experience."💫 "Own My Life will change the lives of women

Administrator Meet Andrew "Baggy" Collins — Administrator, and the person who keeps the orders, finances and training event bookings running smoothly behind the scenes - thanks for keeping us ship-shape Andrew. What song will always get you on the dancefloor? YMCA by Village People If you had a superpower for the day, what would it be? It's got to be flying (no points for originality!) If you could instantly master a new skill what would it be? Playing the violin Which biscui

Female officer: back to camera Domestic abusers are everywhere and those they harm work in all arenas of life; including the people whose professional lives are dedicated to responding to the harm these abusers cause. That is the message behind Empower, a new support project for police officers and staff subjected to domestic abuse within Thames Valley Police. The initiative offers peer support, practical advice, wellbeing support and access to specialist services, working

Volunteer Engagement and Inspired Pilot Lead Meet Hannah Shead — Freelancer, Volunteer Engagement lead and part of the team behind our Inspired pilot. Hannah is also Project Lead for Women First, Treasurer for UK Feminista, and a Director of the Choices Rehab Group. Basically, if there's feminist work to be done, Hannah has a hand in it. What song will always get you on the dancefloor? I will dance to pretty much anything, but my go has got to be MC Hammer, U Can't Touch this

Join Own My Life online on Friday 18 September for an afternoon exploring how we can all build the pieces of a good life! What does it take to build a good life after experiencing adversity? And how can we identify the resources that genuinely help people to thrive? On Friday 18 September, from 2–4pm, Own My Life will host Stronger Than You Think: Four Pillars for a Stronger, More Resilient You, a free interactive event on Zoom. The event will explore the ideas in Professor S

Police Facilitator and Trustee Viran is one of our trustees, delivers Own My Life to women in the Police and has controversial opinions on pineapple as a pizza topping. What other projects are you working on outside Own My Life? Helping Employees - specifically police employees who are victim/survivors of abuse. If you had a superpower for the day, what would it be? Pausing time so I could get things done and then unpause. If you could instantly master a new skill, what would

I feel a little too much in the spotlight, if I’m honest. But I also know we need to seize this moment — for Own My Life, for the women the course reaches, and for everyone who is part of this sisterhood.

Trustee & Clinical Psychologist Jan is one of our trustees and a clinical psychologist, which means she spends a lot of time thinking deeply about how the world impacts women’s wellbeing — and how we can do better. She’s also someone who has strong thoughts about pineapple on pizza and understands that Annie Lennox knows her way around an iconic floor filler. And the best advice she carries with her? “Own your authority.” We're so pleased to be sharing more from the actual re

We have some exciting news! You can get our Own My Life Podcast closer to a winning a British Podcast Award! The Listeners' Choice Award is voted for by the public and we'd love your support. Since launching, our podcast has reached more than 4,000 listeners, and we've heard from women who have told us that listening has been genuinely life-changing. Through honest, courageous conversations, Jade, Monty, Clara, Lorna, Tara, Naomi and Helen share their experiences of surviving

Our July training participants! Last week was another beautiful training week! Look at these magnificent participant comments! The best training I have ever done!🥇 I like the language used by Own My Life and the emphasis on a woman’s own agency.✊🏾 Nothing feels random - everything has a purpose, and that's what makes Own My Life so powerful.💥 Amazing - reinforced some of my perspectives and opinions and changed some. Refreshing to have something so modern.🤯 I was engaged

Read my first post introducing this guide HERE. Introduction The European Conference on Domestic Violence (their website is HERE takes place in a different European city every two years. An academic institution within that country commits to be the on-the-ground partner for the event; with their staff and students forming the organising committee with support from the international organising group. The next ECDV is in Dublin on 5th – 8th September 2027. The keynote pre

ECDV is the European Conference on Domestic Violence. Founded in 2015 by European-based academics and activists, it’s a four-day conference that happens every other year. It’s attended by around 1000 people, with hundreds of presentations across the conference. Many of the participants are from Europe, but lots attend from elsewhere in the world. The next one is in Dublin on 5th – 8th September 2027. The conference seeks to bridge gaps between academia and practice. Most