Own My Life Course

Own My Life Course Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Own My Life Course, Charitable organisation, Sunderland.

We're an innovative, creative & educational 12-week course training practitioners to support women to regain ownership of their lives after they've been abused by a partner.

05/06/2026

You've met Viran. Now hear the conversation.

Episode 7 of the Own My Life podcast was recorded at New Scotland Yard โ€” with Viran and Helen talking honestly about Own My Life inside the Metropolitan Police, the barriers women face, and what real institutional change looks like.

It's a good one. Come and listen.

๐ŸŽง Find the Own My Life podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.

Meet Viran!Viran is one of our trustees, delivers Own My Life to women in the Police and has controversial opinions on p...
02/06/2026

Meet Viran!

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.

๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š ๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐›๐ž?
Pausing time so I could get things done and then unpause.
๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐š ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐›๐ž?
Being in two places at the same time.
๐–๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐›๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ?
Chocolate digestives.
๐๐ข๐ง๐ž๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐š: ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ...
Oh yes please! Delicious.
๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ค, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐›๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ?
Chestnut mares.
๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฌ๐ง๐š๐œ๐ค ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž. ๐‚๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ.
Crisps
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ๐ซ๐จ-๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ?
Intentionally elevating women's contributions in meetings and highlighting their expertise over male counterparts
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ž๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐š ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ?
That people will want you to fail, stay true to you and donโ€™t rise to it.
๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐š ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ?
Placing a female colleague's name first in email.

We are so lucky to have Viran in this community. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or contact us through the website.

We have the best news.Victoria Mason โ€” Own My Life's Partnership Development Lead โ€” has been nominated for a Prevention ...
29/05/2026

We have the best news.

Victoria Mason โ€” Own My Life's Partnership Development Lead โ€” has been nominated for a Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Award.

Victoria's work has helped Own My Life reach over 20,000 women. She was central to expanding the programme into Northern Ireland. She has built relationships across policing, the third sector and community safety that have opened doors for women who needed them opened.

And she does all of it with such warmth, such care, and such quiet determination.

This nomination is so well deserved. We are absolutely beaming for her.

Congratulations Victoria โ€” we couldn't be prouder. ๐Ÿ’š

TSB Rebecca Smith MP Wendy Chamberlain for North East Fife

We have some lovely news!Kirsty Bentley is joining us as Co-Trainer for the Own My Life Facilitator Course, alongside Lo...
26/05/2026

We have some lovely news!

Kirsty Bentley is joining us as Co-Trainer for the Own My Life Facilitator Course, alongside Louise Bryant.

Kirsty has been delivering Own My Life to women for a few years now, and she writes so beautifully about what drew her to this role: the moment in every group where the room exhales, where women realise they're not carrying everything alone anymore.

We couldn't be happier to have her as part of the team.

Read Kirsty's own words about stepping into this role on our Blog: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/post/stepping-into-co-training-for-the-own-my-life-facilitator-course

What a joyous May training! It was our FIRST training with BSL interpretation for the brilliant Deborah from Deafinitely...
26/05/2026

What a joyous May training! It was our FIRST training with BSL interpretation for the brilliant Deborah from Deafinitely Women.

Participants said:

Absolutely brilliant from start to finish.๐Ÿ’ฅ

This was the best zoom training I have attended.๐Ÿ’ป

It's transformed my outlook for the better in so many ways.๐Ÿคฏ

Best course I have done & a course that can empower women.๐Ÿ†

Relevant, fun, appropriate and versatile for a range of participants.๐Ÿฅฐ

It is a thought provoking & incredibly powerful training experience.๐Ÿง 

It's just such a refreshing & radical, common sense way to think about abuse.โœŠ๐Ÿผ

Own My Life is essential for women who have suffered abuse & need space to make sense of what they have been through.๐Ÿ“Œ

I think itโ€™s absolutely fantastic. Its focus on women who have been abused & how they can regain control of their future is a breath of fresh air.๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ

Resources are visually friendly and simple. They have also been translated to Welsh which will have a significant impact in us supporting women.๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ

I originally thought it was going to be a tough week as it was all online however I thought the time was beautifully structured, it seemed to go quicker than I expected.๐Ÿคฉ

Possibly the best course I have been on, giving women the tools knowledge & confidence to be their own advocate- cannot stress how much I loved this course and all the women involved.๐Ÿ…

Through this course you're going to find something you've always been looking for. You'll learn so much about yourself, and be stronger on the other side of it, & find some sisters along the way.๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ

I will be more mindful of ensuring that I'm not going forwards with the assumption that the risk management approach is the best for womenโ€ฆI will let women lead in what is good for them: they are the experts of their lives.๐Ÿšบ

The course has been designed to address serious issues in a very subtle way that opens up an opportunity for discussion. I feel the course is non-judgemental & makes you think about the language you use as professionals.๐Ÿ’ฌ

Natalie is an incredibly โ€˜solidโ€™ facilitator that holds the space, the content and the emotion in a way I have never seen before - done that well. The balance of learning, practicing, discussing & moments of joy & fun meant that 5 days on intensive and deeply difficult subject matter was in fact a positive and empowering experience.โค๏ธโ€๐Ÿ”ฅ

I was worried about being in front of a screen for such a long period of time: I usually fall asleep & always have done...I was very surprised at how fast the day would go by & the fact that I was engaged the whole way through!๐Ÿ˜Š

This training has challenged me on language used and has given me the boost needed to keep going...it felt light hearted & not too heavy - very informative & great to be among so many women wanted to help and make a difference.๐Ÿ’–

Want to experience this JOY for yourself? Book here: http://ownmylifecourse.org/trainingdates

Wahooooooo! Weโ€™re delighted to see Preston and Hope Prevails on the Own My Life map!With great gratitude to Victoria Mas...
24/05/2026

Wahooooooo! Weโ€™re delighted to see Preston and Hope Prevails on the Own My Life map!

With great gratitude to Victoria Mason and Jacqui Shurr for working to make this happen ๐Ÿฅณ๐Ÿคฉโค๏ธโ€๐Ÿ”ฅ

16/05/2026

Last month we hosted Survival, Not Disorder โ€” a session focused on how we understand "mental health" and womenโ€™s distress after men harm them.

Instead of asking what is โ€œwrongโ€, it looks at what has been done to them, how women are affected, and the meaning they make of those experiences.

If youโ€™re working in this space, itโ€™s worth taking a look at the full write-up (and watching the recording!)

We recently hosted a roundtable on supporting women in the workplace, bringing together people from different sectors to...
13/05/2026

We recently hosted a roundtable on supporting women in the workplace, bringing together people from different sectors to share what theyโ€™re seeing and whatโ€™s working.

The discussion covered how women subjected to abuse show up in professional settings, the challenges women face in staying in or returning to work, and the role employers can play in responding well.

We were inspired and encouraged by the work done by so many in the room. We really can see workplaces meaningfully supporting women!

Weโ€™ve shared a short write-up from the session if youโ€™d like to read more head over to the blog on our website. ๐Ÿ’š

https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/post/light-and-hope-our-roundtable-about-supporting-women-in-the-workplace

That brilliant Emma from Unlocq Leadership is at the Opoka-Bristol conference today. We are passionate about seeing Poli...
13/05/2026

That brilliant Emma from Unlocq Leadership is at the Opoka-Bristol conference today. We are passionate about seeing Polish women owning their lives, which is why all our materials are available in Polish. We are excited to learn from the experts, Polish women themselves, and build connections and joy throughout the day.

Just a little nudge from usโ€ฆIf Own My Life training has been sitting in the back of your mind โ€” one of those โ€œI should l...
11/05/2026

Just a little nudge from usโ€ฆ

If Own My Life training has been sitting in the back of your mind โ€” one of those โ€œI should look into thatโ€ thoughts โ€” this is us gently reminding you, the rest of the year is open, but spaces do fill.

And truly, thereโ€™s something quite special about stepping into this work alongside others who care as much as you do.

No pressure. Justโ€ฆ an open door.

Find out more: https://www.ownmylifecourse.org/training

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Sunderland

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