Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and marks the beginning of 16 days of action.

Globally, 1 in 3 women have been subjected to sexual and/or physical violence at least once in their life. For many women - particularly those most marginalised by society - their experiences of violence are multiple, repeated and exist on a continuum throughout their lives.

Every aspect of our work, with both women and men in recovery from addiction, involves addressing the harms of patriarchy, and the impacts of men’s use of violence and abuse. Within this, we see all forms of discrimination and disadvantage, along with the impacts of trauma that come with these, as the root cause of most preventable ill health and wellbeing. Sexism, misogyny, and the unequal treatment of women and girls in society is a particularly insidious power imbalance, which remains ever present.

Every woman we work with has had to navigate patriarchal systems, which have either limited or denied their freedoms and rights to political, legal, economic, health and social justice. This results in many women carrying significant impacts of trauma and distress that affect their mental, physical and emotional health, along with their sense of self, safety and worth in their day to day lives.

These are some of the many reasons we consider feminist thought and practice, as essential to the area of recovery, and are in awe of the hundreds of women we’ve supported through our life-changing Feminism for Change course.

For 6-weeks we deep dive into feminist theory, unpacking patriarchy, analysing media representations, and exploring women’s health, rights and freedoms. It is a radically transformational course, developed specifically for women in recovery from multiple forms of trauma and inequality, to create a safe space to learn and heal.

Listen to one of our phenomenal graduates, Clare, share her experience of translating the personal into the political, connecting theory with practice, and reclaiming her own sense of self, power and voice.

Find the whole video on our website under the "Video stories" section.