Kairos WWT

Attending the hairdressers can be anxiety inducing for any woman. The focus on physical appearance and small talk can be intense. Not to mention the cost!

Karolina Mocko is a hairdresser by trade and wanted a meaningful volunteer opportunity where she could practice her English. She not only brings haircuts but joy when she visits us (this was her second time and she plans to visit every 6-8 weeks).

Karolina gifts the women a moment in a safe space where they are loved, pampered, and nurtured through kind words and safe physical touch in a non judgemental, trauma informed environment. She has an infectiously bubbly approach. The women and Karolina leave with a spring in their step and a smile!

Do you have a skill you could share with Kairos? Please get in touch with our Volunteer Manager, Karissa, at [email protected] to find out more about how you can support us.

One of the aims of Blossoms is to improve maternal wellbeing. Lisa, one of our Support and Advocacy Practitioners, who also leads this provision, recently organised a lovely paint by numbers activity during a session.

The women tell us that mindful activities support their wellbeing. For pregnant women, this is especially important as stress during pregnancy can have a lasting impact on babies. Pregnancy is often incredibly stressful for the mums to be accessing Blossoms. They may have children's services involvement, be experiencing homelessness, trying to overcome addiction, or have physical and mental health challenges.

One of the women has continued her canvas at home. She said she's been doing it whenever she has had a bit of free time from looking after her young baby.

When we hear back from women we have supported, it really drives home why we are here. A woman who moved from Coventry contacted us with this wonderful update:

"How are you? I miss you all so much, I hope you've all been having fun! I'm doing very well, I couldn't begin to express the peace I have within me!

I've managed to do so so much thanks to your support. I was able to call citizens advice and they were amazing and are finding me a woman's charity that supports the wellbeing of women :) and they're also in the process of getting me registered for housing!

I changed my address on everything too and I've handled all my finances well so far and I'm proud of that because you know how hard that was.

Also, I've had surgery! It all happened a bit quick, but all in all I'm well again.

I haven't forgotten about writing about Kairos, I just have so much passion and thought towards what I'd like to say, I need more time.

But thank you, I think you guys gave me so much courage and confidence. I'm so grateful that I'm starting to be who I always wanted and deserved to be :) # # "

Following on from Volunteers Week in June, we had the joy of taking our wonderful volunteers out for afternoon tea. Our volunteers work so hard to enable Kairos' services to continue, and we rarely get a chance to sit and chat away from the hustle and bustle of service delivery. From cooking meals at our mid-week groups to enabling our evening outreach and drop-in to run, our volunteers give up their time to support us. They are fantastic women who inspire us and bring creativity, joy, fun, and passion. It was lovely to sit down together, laugh, and take a moment to appreciate everything they do.

If you would like to become a Kairos volunteer, we have a number of volunteer opportunities so please take a look at our social media posts or contact [email protected] for more information.

Recently, our Head of Service Delivery spoke at a Knowledge Exchange Network event, organised by The Police Foundation and Revolving Doors. It was a great opportunity to showcase what we do and the impact this has on women’s lives. It was great to hear from some other projects and speakers with similar passion and values to Kairos!

Kairos WWT are urgently looking 👀for a motivated and enthusiastic volunteer to support the delivery of their Life Skills course this summer. The aims of the course are to increase the confidence of participants and to identify and strengthen their skills💪💪 You’ll help to deliver pre planned modules, activities and make a simple lunch 🥗
Sessions will take place in Coventry every Friday 11am – 1pm and training will be provided.
Kairos WWT provide holistic, trauma informed, long term support and advocacy for women who are subject to or at risk of sexual exploitation; including women who face multiple disadvantage and have ‘complex’ unmet needs. They empower women to increase their safety, stability, self-belief, and self-reliance; improve their life chances, and build fulfilled lives, free from violence, abuse, and exploitation.

For more information, please email Karissa Coley at Kairos Women Working Together at [email protected]

In a recent Queen Bees session we discussed growth in healthy relationships and what's needed to create this. Our women put pen to paper and listed what they think is important to maintain a healthy relationship.

Recently, Kairos held a Warrior Women Wellness Day at our Women's Hub. We had 6 women attend and take part in cold water immersion, breathwork, yoga and a sound bath. Jess from JD Therapies guided the women into the cold water and one woman stayed in for 12 minutes! The women took part in a breathwork session and then challenged themselves with some difficult yoga poses with Heidi. Heidi finished the session with a relaxing sound bath. The women completed assessments at the beginning and the end of the session to compare how well they were feeling. One woman shared how she felt "light and floaty" at the end of the session and another woman said she was proud of herself. 😊 A massive thank you to JD Therapies for their support on the day.

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Coventry Women's Needs Analysis Survey Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

The women at Queen Bees planted some carrots 🥕 during one of the sessions in our Kairos Garden. We talked about what is needed to help them grow and then we discussed how this works for ourselves and our self growth. 💚

The general election is now 24 hours away. We have the power and influence. We decide who should lead the nation, so let's celebrate and strengthen our democracy so we can have a world where women, girls, our children and grandchildren can flourish.

Over the past 2 years our Pathfinder team have had the privilege of working with Warwick University Law in the Community and Central England Law Centre on research leading toward a Legal Aid Toolkit. Last week we teamed up with other charities across the city to learn more about how this resource could impact the lives of the people using our services.

Kairos WWT Rethink Charity St Basils Charity Foleshill Community Centre

Each week all of the Kairos team get together for a weekly check-in.

This is an opportunity to go through what’s coming up in the week ahead at Kairos.

If you are, or you know someone, who works in, or has connections to services in Coventry, we’d value capturing your perspectives to feed into the needs analysis. All answers to the survey will be anonymous and it should take around 15-20 minutes.

The link to the survey is here: Coventry Women's Needs Analysis Survey :

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CWPneedsanalysis

PLEASE SHARE the survey across your teams and networks.

FWT - a centre for women Central England Law Centre Kairos WWT CRASAC Renaisi

Coventry Women's Needs Analysis Survey Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

This week the Feelings Safe team delivered a session at the YMCA's Flourish programme for girls and young women. We spoke about the support Kairos offers, healthy and unhealthy relationships, and created Positiva'trees to remind us of the attributes that make a relationship positive and fulfilling. There was some great discussion and everyone got a beautiful reminder to take home with them.

A massive THANK YOU to Clothing Coventry for providing the pregnant women we support at our Blossoms group with lovely, well fitting maternity clothes. The women we support do not have the funds to buy maternity wear and it is so important for them to feel comfortable and stylish during their pregnancies.

A huge thank you to My Mommy Bags in Coventry, for their generous donation of clothes and dignity bags for pregnant women we support who are going into hospital. We want all women going in to have resources and items they need to feel dignified and empowered.

One of the women supported by Aspire came to our Women’s Hub and told us that she was going to a special event and didn't have anything appropriate to wear. Within less than 24 hours Clothing Coventry had provided us a full bag of clothing which included shoes and handbags.

All of the team agreed that she looked amazing. She was so grateful and was able to attend the event feeling happy and confident.

A big shout out to CLOTHING COVENTRY…thank you!

Kairos have provided “Garden Starter Kits” for the women we support. They will benefit from growing their own seeds and working on their own outdoor spaces.

Women and girls across Britain are facing a crisis of unmet need. They deserve a champion at the highest level of politics to drive forward change across every government department.

There’s over 60 organisations supporting this campaign, including Kairos, demanding a Secretary of State for Women and Girls in the next Cabinet.

We want the next government to match the seriousness of multiple unmet needs with serious political resource.

To learn more about this campaign click here https://www.agendaalliance.org/our-work/projects-and-campaigns/agenda-alliance-secretary-of-state/

📣VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 📣
1️⃣ We are looking for a volunteer to support with our volunteer led life skills sessions.
The sessions take place every Friday 11am - 1pm (All Training Provided, including level 2 Hygiene Core.
Application Deadline for this role 20-06-24

2️⃣ We are also looking for a volunteer to support our Fundraising Manager in securing essential funds for our services, including Small Grant Writing.
No prior experience of fund raising or grant writing is needed but we are looking for someone who is self-motivated and shares our vision and has transferable skills.

If you are interested in either of the roles then please contact [email protected]

With National Volunteer Week over we'd like to share with you a volunteering opportunity we have! We are looking for someone to support our Feeling Safe Women with horse therapy sessions and someone to help run our Volunteer-led Life Skills course.

Becoming a Kairos volunteer means you will:

💚 Become part of a community of wonderful women

💚 Gain new skills

💚 Grow in confidence

💚 Have access to on-going support, supervision and training

💚 Enable our vital services to run

If you'd like to get involved or find out more information, please email our Volunteer Manager, Karissa: [email protected]

It’s National Volunteers Week and each day this week we’ll be shining a spotlight on the work of our volunteers across Kairos.

This is Hannah, Hannah is our longest standing volunteer and has been with Kairos for almost 13 years! Hannah supports our Wednesday night outreach and drop-in session. Hannah’s years of experience mean that she knows the women well and remembers details. Hannah has a demanding job but she gives up her evenings to support our service and enable it to continue.

When asked what she loves about Kairos, Hannah said, “the list is endless but predominantly the non-judgemental approach and the consistency of the service. Kairos offers help and support to whoever walks in the door, no matter what they need help with. Seeing a woman come in during drop in who is in crisis and has nowhere to sleep that night and being able to arrange emergency accommodation within 15 minutes is invaluable. The consistency element of Kairos is also incredibly important. Kairos is available Monday- Friday and the women know we will run Outreach every Wednesday without fail. For someone who might not have a routine or any consistency in their life, they know Kairos is always there when they need them.”

Hannah’s favourite Kairos moment was when Kairos took part in a sponsored sleep out in the car park and personally raise £900 for Kairos. The sleep out was more than just a fundraiser though, it gave Hannah an insight into what the women have to go through when sleeping on the streets. Here Hannah describes her experience, “being on edge all night, listening to every sound, counting down the hours until the sun came up and hoping we would be safe”. Hannah says she was lucky enough to be able to go home in the morning, to a warm house and a comfortable bed after a night sleeping on concrete but that's not the reality for most of our women.

Thank you for your years of volunteering and support Hannah, we really appreciate you!💚

It’s National Volunteers Week and each day we’ll be shining a spotlight on the work of our volunteers across Kairos.
This is Sue, Sue is Kairos’s newest volunteer and has been with us since April 2024. Sue volunteers at our multi-agency drop-in, Wonder Women Wednesday, where she makes food for the women attending and also makes sandwiches for evening outreach. Since starting in April, Sue has taken part in a number of different activities across Kairos before joining WWW. Sue is flexible and open to new challenges and has slotted in to the Kairos family so well!
Sue says “I love the nurturing, cosy atmosphere and seeing that the emotional and practical support given, it is very much needed and does provide positive results” Sue’s favourite Kairos moment was during a quilting session a number of weeks ago, the women were able to relax, chat and make something that looks good and they can use at home.
Welcome to the team Sue and thank you for your commitment and hard work so far! We really appreciate you. 💚

It’s National Volunteers Week and throughout this week we’ll be shining a spotlight on the work of our volunteers across Kairos.

This is Anca, she has been volunteering with us for 3 and a half years. Anca supports our Blossoms group on Tuesdays, a group for pregnant women and women with babies under 1.
Anca’s creativity is well known and comes out in all aspects of her volunteering! She goes the extra mile to ensure the women and children that Kairos support feel valued.
Here Anca is painting one of the pregnant women’s bump ready for a pregnancy shoot. Anca has also created cake smashes, Halloween and Christmas shoots, made baby biscuits, created recipe cards and so much more! These are moments that the women treasure forever.
Anca says “I love the fact that Kairos offers something unique to the women we work with. That being understanding, kindness, patience, and a trauma informed space where women can feel safe and not judged”. Anca’s favourite Kairos moment was when one of the women that we support said that in the 20 minutes she was here she felt like she had more support and understanding that she's had in the past few years. She felt so safe and welcomed at Kairos.💚
Thank you for all of your creativity and work Anca, we really appreciate you! 💚

It's National Volunteers Week and for the rest of the week we'll be shining a spotlight on the work of our volunteers across Kairos.

This is Deana, she has been volunteering with Kairos since September 2023. Deana supports our Queen Bees group every Thursday, which is part of the Feeling Safe project, she also delivers a Life Skills course. Deana recently supported Queen Bees during their Warrior Women Wellness day and led by example with the cold water immersion!

Deana says "Kairos is just like family, we laugh, cry and support each other". Her favourite Kairos moment is when she went with the Feeling Safe women to see the sculptors at Warwick Uni. They were able to articulate how they saw the sculptures and how this related to them. Deana was also able to see one of the women move away and loved being able to see her grow in confidence, know what she wants and this woman was stronger due to the support from Kairos.

Thank you for all your hard work Deana, we really appreciate you!

General Election 2024 The upcoming general election is an important opportunity for charities across the country to make their voices, and the voices of the communities they support, heard.

It's National Volunteers Week and we're kicking off the week sharing about a recent community event at the Watch centre in Hillfields, run by Voluntary Action Coventry.

The event was attended by Volunteer Manager Karissa, volunteers Deana and Sue and Maddy. Maddy was a volunteer with us but has recently joined the staff team as a Support and Advocacy Practitioner with the Feeling Same service!

As part of the community event we had a number of games to try and highlight the challenges that our women face every day.

Snakes and ladders- with more snakes than ladders to show the many barriers our women come across and how even if they climb a 'ladder' in their life, the amount of snakes can make it almost impossible for them.

Connect 4- To show how impossible it is for a woman on the day she leaves prison to attend all of her appointments on time. The player had to pick a card and put a counter down to try and beat the system. Spoiler- it's impossible!

Guess the sweets in the jar- The number of sweets in the jar represented how many women in the UK over the age of 16 have been sexually assaulted or r***d. Except we couldn't fit that number in a jar so each sweet represents 10,000 women. There were 650 sweets in the jar for the 6.5 million women in the UK who have been subject to sexual assaults and r**e.

Can you give injustice 'the can'?- We had a board showing injustices faced by women all over the world and asked people if they could knock down the cans.

We also had the opportunity to go on Hillz!fm to raise awareness of Kairos!

Our amazing team at Kairos are here to provide you with support when you’re ready.

💚They will LISTEN
💚They will CHAT
💚They will give you the SUPPORT that you need