STCA at EarthfFest 2024

Over the past year, our Women’s Health, Safety and Advocacy programme has demonstrated what happens when you commit to that principle, day after day, in one neighbourhood.

The Numbers Behind the Story

Over the past year, our dedicated programme for Women’s Health, Safety and Advocacy has reached:

• 1,032 fitness session attendances across zumba, gentle exercise, and full-body workouts
• 490 coffee morning connections — informal spaces where women build trust and reduce isolation
• 160 workshop participants across psychoeducational sessions, confidence-building, and awareness workshops
• 107 new individual engagements with residents accessing support for the first time
• 44 DV advocacy and signposting interactions — direct support for women experiencing domestic violence
• 98 cost-of-living application support cases — helping women navigate benefits, fuel support, and financial hardship
• 143 wellbeing visits — one-to-one check-ins and follow-up support
• Partnerships built with over 40 organisations, including NHS teams, Mind in Camden, Talking Therapies, Camden Council, and specialist charities

All of this delivered without a dedicated, consistent programme budget — but through relationships, in-kind support, and an unwavering commitment to the women of Somers Town.

What We Actually Do

The work spans far more than one thing. It’s woven into the fabric of what we do here:

Direct Domestic Violence Support

We’ve established STCA and The Living Centre as Safe Haven spaces: trusted, accessible first points of contact for women experiencing gender-based violence. Our Women’s Health, Safety and Advocacy Lead provide crisis response, ongoing guidance, and practical support to help survivors access appropriate services and secure safe housing tailored to their individual needs.

Trauma-Informed Psychoeducational Workshops

In partnership with Talking Therapies (formerly iCope), Mind in Camden, and other mental health providers, we’ve delivered workshops focused on equipping women with practical tools and coping strategies to manage stress, anxiety, and trauma. These are delivered in culturally sensitive ways, honouring the diverse communities we work with.

Health Screening and Referrals

We actively connect women to cervical, bowel, and lung cancer screenings, menopause support, smoking cessation, and mental health services. This isn’t just signposting; it’s active advocacy. We help women navigate complex systems, access the right support, and advocate on their behalf when needed.

Fitness and Wellbeing

From pre- and post-natal fitness classes to weekly blood pressure monitoring, yoga, sound therapy, and wellbeing walks we worked hard to create consistent, welcoming spaces where women can build routine, improve physical health, and begin to feel part of a community.

Women’s Safety and Advocacy

We’ve delivered awareness workshops on media literacy, radicalisation, women’s safety and body mapping, and community night walks. We represent STCA at borough-wide forums and events, ensuring women’s voices are heard in spaces where decisions are made.

Cost-of-Living and Practical Support

In partnership with our signposting coordinator and other community partners, we help women navigate welfare applications, fuel support, and financial hardship because health cannot be separated from the ability to heat a home or put food on the table.

A Safe Haven Centre

The Living Centre is now a designated Safe Haven, operating Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm. This means that any woman experiencing gender-based violence in Somers Town can walk through our door and find a trained, trauma-informed team who will listen, believe her, and help her access the right support — at her own pace, in her own time.

What We’ve Learned

This year has taught us crucial lessons about how women access support:

Trust is earned, not given. Women are far more likely to disclose experiences of abuse, violence, or hardship in informal, trusted community settings than in formal services. That coffee morning, for example, is not just a social gathering that helps battle isolation. It’s those weekly gatherings that build trust and the feeling of safety through consistent presence, genuine connection, and opportunities for people to share at their own pace.

Crisis intervention is not enough. We’ve seen that women need long-term emotional support, not just emergency response. A single session, however helpful, cannot undo months or years of trauma. What works is showing up every week, maintaining regular check-ins, and creating pathways to further support and finding opportunities for them to gain confidence and feel empowered to carve their own future.

Cultural stigma is a real barrier. Especially in specific communities, stigma around mental health, domestic abuse, and seeking help remains a major obstacle. This means our work must be culturally responsive, linguistically accessible, and delivered by people who understand and respect the communities we serve.

Engagement increases when activities are holistic. When we combine social connection, education, and wellbeing in one activity like a fitness class that also discusses body autonomy and safety, or a coffee morning that leads to health screening conversations, women show up more consistently.

The Challenges We Face

Mental health demand outstrips resources. Many women are experiencing heightened levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma compounded by social isolation, financial pressures, and experiences of abuse. Stigma and long waiting times for specialist services mean women often don’t seek help until crisis point. We need accessible, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approaches that provide early intervention and sustained support.

Domestic abuse is ongoing and complex. Survivors face multiple barriers: fear, stigma, lack of safe housing, limited awareness of available support. Often, they need specialist, coordinated responses.

They need someone to help them navigate housing, legal advice, welfare support, and long-term recovery pathways.

Cost-of-living is a health issue. Rising food, energy, and housing costs are directly affecting women’s ability to prioritise their health and wellbeing. We see reduced attendance at sessions when people are in crisis, and limited capacity to engage with support services when survival feels like the only priority.

Navigating external services is overwhelming. Housing, healthcare, legal support, welfare — these systems are complex and often hostile to people with language barriers, limited digital access, or low confidence. Women need active advocacy. They need someone who understands the maze.

What Comes Next

• Secure sustainable funding for core activities, moving beyond project-based funding or in-kind support
• Expand capacity to meet the growing demand for support
• Develop structured casework pathways that track individual progress and ensure no one falls through gaps
• Expand trauma-informed support across all our programmes, ensuring every interaction prioritises safety, trust, choice, and empowerment
• Increase targeted outreach to underrepresented and culturally marginalised communities, co-designing support with community members themselves
• Develop peer-led programmes, including a “pay-it-forward” volunteer model where women who have accessed support become peer supporters and community leaders

If You Want to Get Involved

If you’re a woman in Somers Town seeking support:

Our free weekly wellbeing sessions are open to everyone 16+ with no experience needed. No referral required. Just show up.

Monday | 12:30–1:30pm
Zumba classes @ The Living Centre, 2 Ossulston Street, NW1 1DF

Wednesday | 12–3pm
Gentle exercises + Wellbeing workshops @ Somers Town Community Centre, 150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EE

Thursday | 1–2pm
Full body exercise @ Somers Town Community Centre, 150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EE

sonia@thelivingcentre.org | info@thelivingcentre.org

If you work in public health, women’s health funding, health inequalities, or community-centred programme development:

We would welcome a conversation about partnership, funding, and how this model might be scaled to other communities. The evidence is clear: community-centred, trust-based, culturally responsive health support works. And demand is growing.

If you believe in this work: that women’s health matters, that community matters, that trust matters — we’d love to hear from you.

The Women’s Health, Safety and Advocacy programme is delivered by the Somers Town Community Association with support from NHS partners, Mind in Camden, Talking Therapies, Camden Council, and over 40 community and specialist organisations.

For more information about how to access support, volunteer, partner with us, or fund this work, please get in touch through sonia@thelivingcentre.org