Mums In Need: The Sheffield charity providing support to mothers suffering on-going abuse from ex-partners

Mums In Need was set up towards the end of 2013 to support mothers who had left a coercive controlling relationship, but were still experiencing post-separation abuse from their former partners.

Laura Riley, from Nether Edge, set up the charity after finding there were few to no services out there to support these mothers, many of whom find themselves battling in family court for custody of their children for several years.

Laura, aged 43, said: “There's lots of services available for women that are in physically abusive relationships and that high risk level – but we're very much that long term support that happens way after that stage.

“You leave the relationship, and then that's when things really get worse because you can't break free. You've got to deal with your ex because you've got a child with that person. If you have to go to court, you go to court, if you get given a contact order, you have to facilitate contact.

“A lot of the time you will turn up at court and they won't tell you that actually you can take five minutes, you can go for a walk, you can bring a friend along.

“You're going through all this domestic abuse and coercive control, and then you're thrown into a system which almost allows it to continue.”

Almost 10 years on, MIN, which became a registered charity in 2018, has evolved from being carried out on a voluntary basis by Laura, to a full-time venture with a team of staff and volunteers who work together to help hundreds of women in Sheffield and South Yorkshire.

Service users can receive a range of tailored support, from regular one-to-one sessions with a caseworker, peer support groups, legal support, counselling, and signposting to relevant services.

There is also a growing number of ways children and young people can be supported including art therapy sessions which Sara Ford, the charity’s social media lead, said aims to “take away the families from the trauma”.

In the year September 2021 to August 2022, MIN supported 183 mothers through their helpline, 112 children, and 64 mums who accessed the full service with a caseworker and tailored support. The plan is to raise more funds for the charity through fundraising events and securing grants to allow MIN to expand its services and have new caseworkers join the team.

Sara said: “There shouldn't be a need to have a charity to do all this kind of support, and the more we can do to get awareness about coercive control, rather than just domestic abuse, the easier it'll be to spot the signs.

“Someone giving us a regular donation of £3, £4 or £5 is the cost of a cup of coffee, but realistically, that will make a massive difference to how much we can do for our mums. It costs £50 for each mum to have a single one-to-one session with a counsellor, so any donation really can make a huge change.”

To find out more about the charity, including how to get support and how to donate to the service, please visit: https://www.mumsinneed.com/home.