Phoenix Rising New Beginnings CIO

📣 CALLING ALL LOCAL COMEDIANS & ENTERTAINERS! BANDS (VOLUNTARY SPOTS) 📣
We are planning an upcoming Charity Ladies’ Night in Torbay to raise vital funds for our charity Phoenix Rising CIO (charity number 1217227) and we are looking for amazing performers to donate their time and talent to help us make it a success!

Every penny raised on the night goes directly to supporting survivors of domestic abuse in our community. If you love performing and want to use your talents for an incredibly meaningful cause, we would love to have you on board.

✨ Who we are looking for:

Stand-up Comedians (female or female-friendly sets preferred)

Live Musicians / Acoustic Acts / Duos (male or female)

Interactive Hosts (e.g., Music Bingo, Quiz, or Raffle hosts)

Unique acts or performers who can bring energy and laughs!

📅 Event Details:

Date: 4th December

Location: The Box office (under the Arena)

In return, we will loudly promote your page, business, or upcoming shows to all our guests and followers both before and during the event! 💜

Please comment or tag any local performers or share this post to help us spread the word!

Either comment with your details or email [email protected]

This is for 16 Days of Action Devon

BAITING

This is a type of narcissistic behaviour tactic that is often used in abusive relationships.

On our New Beginnings courses, we teach these types of red flag tactics, so you can recognise them in intimate relationships, or with family, and friends.

These are abusive tactics and are not part of a healthy relationship in anyway or form

To contact us about our courses please email [email protected] or visit our website phoenixrisingcio.com and click on the referral form at the top of the page.

Courses are held in Torquay, Newton abbot, South Hams areas and online

We are pleased to announce that we are a CPD certified service. Our Rise and Rewire Trauma Stabilisation course is now CPD certified.
This will enable women to gain professional accreditation for their course, which can be used to enhance a CV, experience of learning to get back into work, and show continued professional development.

Thanks to the Gibbons Trust we have some funding for women to receive one of our own Trauma Stabilisation workbooks for FREE (usually £20 to purchase)

Exciting times.

We are now working on our next CPD accredited course to provide to professionals around Trauma informed practice

Phoenix Rising supports women over 18 in domestic abuse situations and having left their abusive relationships. I met with their Chief Executive Claire to discuss their vital work in our Bay.

I was pleased to hear that they recently received £240,000 over 3 years from the National Lottery, which has allowed them to employ 2 more staff members, expanding their reach to other local areas such as the South Hams.

They also provide trauma-informed support training for professionals to help teach them how to support people who have experienced trauma without just sending them to a different place. They are among the few groups in the Bay who provide support to individuals post-abusive relationship.

I'm pleased to help celebrate their work and I will be doing so in Parliament.

Women and children are being let down by inadequate domestic abuse investigations, a Devon and Cornwall police and crime panel has heard. 👮‍♀️📋
Police say improvements are underway following a critical inspection, as concerns continue over how some cases are handled.

Long post

The Dress..👗

Abuse never arrives looking like abuse.

It arrives
as *the dress.*

The one that fits perfectly, holding you in all the right places, smoothing over the bumps, hiding the parts you've always been taught to hate.

You slip it on and suddenly you're beautiful again.

Safe again.
Enough.

That dress is the best part of them.

It looks like your best friend,
your biggest supporter,
your laughter,
your home,
your reason to breathe,
your reason to smile.

And then

like the cruellest joke that nobody else seems to hear

You take it off.

The cold steals your breath.

Now you're left
waiting.

Waiting for the next cruel word.
The next accusation.
The next look.
The next silence.
The next reminder
that somehow
you've done everything wrong.

Maybe it was the work meeting.
Maybe it was your friends.
Maybe someone looked at you.
Maybe you looked the wrong way.
Maybe
You simply existed.

So you spend your life trying to earn the dress back.

Keeping the peace.
Keeping the house.
Keeping the smile.
Keeping quiet.

Tiptoeing through your own life, hoping that if you're perfect enough, careful enough, small enough…

You'll get to wear it again.

Because when it fits,

Oh, when it fits

It feels like finding your old size again. Like looking in the mirror and recognising yourself.

For a little while.

You both admire the dress.

They love seeing you wear it.

Until they don't.

Then you're back wrapped in the oversized clothes of depression, stress, fear, and exhaustion.

"Yes, darling."

"Of course, darling."

"They're only my friends."

"I have to go to work."

"No, they don't fancy me."

"No, I'm not cheating."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean to..."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't look like that."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't breathe the wrong way."

"I'm sorry...

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry..."

And then, without warning, the dress returns.

Sparkling.

Soft.

Familiar.

You put it on again.

But this time…

It doesn't feel the same.

It doesn't hold you the way it used to.

Its sparkle has dulled.

Or maybe...

*I've* dulled.

So I smile anyway.

Pretend it still feels wonderful.

Maybe I ruined it.

Maybe I didn't take care of it.

Maybe it's my fault.

Maybe the mirror is warped.

Maybe I'm imagining everything.

The dress hasn't changed.

So...

it must be me.

But one day, standing in front of that mirror, I finally see it.

The dress no longer fits.

Not because I've changed

because it has.

Its threads are pulling apart.

Its sparkle is borrowed.

Its comfort was never real.

It has stolen my shine piece by piece until I no longer remember what mine looked like.

So I whisper

Take it off.

Please...

take it off.

The hardest thing isn't leaving the dress behind.

It's grieving it.

How do you let go of something that once made you feel beautiful?

How do you mourn something that also hurt you?

How do you trust that you'll ever wear something wonderful again?

How do you walk into the world with all your scars, all your wobbly bits, on show?

People will say,

"It's only a dress."

"You'll find another."

"You'll move on."

But they never wore this one.

They never stitched their identity nto its seams.

They never watched it unravel while believing they were the one falling apart.

One day,

I'll find another dress.

Not one that hides my scars

One that lets me keep them.

One that never asks me to apologise for breathing.

One that fits without making me disappear.

And maybe then...

I'll remember that my shine was never sewn into the dress at all.

It was always mine.

by Claire

Come to our Newton Abbot Drop in today 10am till 12pm at the “Hello Karma store” (top if queens street, war memorial end)
You will be welcomed by our lovely volunteers, have a nice cuppa or a cold drink and be around other women enjoying a safe space and good company.

Another successfully empowering session with the RedEarth Playback Theatre. In the most beautiful setting at Shekinah Grow.

🔥 Exploring Anger… Finding Our Power Again 🔥

Today’s workshop was a powerful reminder that anger is not something to fear, it is a message. It is often the part of us that has been silenced for too long, the voice that says “something wasn’t okay” and “I deserved better.”

We were honoured to work alongside Playback Theatre, where incredible actors held space for women’s stories and brought them to life in real time. Watching personal experiences, emotions and memories reflected back with such compassion and understanding was truly moving. The actors beautifully demonstrated the power of being heard, witnessed and validated, sometimes for the first time.

Together, we explored what anger means, where it sits in our bodies, and how we can safely begin to release what we have carried. Through a structured and supported exercise, women were able to use a baseball bat as a tool for physical release, not from a place of violence, but from a place of empowerment, reclaiming their voice, strength and control.

The day was filled with courage, emotion and feeling safe in themselves to explore healing in a different way.

We then gently brought ourselves back through mindfulness and anchoring techniques, reconnecting with safety, calm and the present moment.

Healing is not about forgetting what happened. It is about finding ways to process, release and rebuild. It is about taking back the parts of ourselves that trauma tried to take away.

Today showed the incredible strength of the women we support, their bravery, their honesty and their willingness to step into their own power.

A huge thank you to the Playback Theatre actors for creating such a safe, respectful and deeply impactful experience. ❤️
We can’t wait for the next ones soon