Counselling for women and girls
We offer free, one-to-one counselling for women and girls who live in the Bradford area. You can self-refer to our counselling service or be referred by other organisations and agencies, such as your GP or support worker. Counselling can give you some time and space where you can think, reflect and talk things through.
It takes a lot of courage to come for counselling and it’s not always easy to talk about your thoughts and feelings. You don’t have to talk about anything that you are not ready to talk about. Your counsellor will not judge you or tell you what to do. She will help you to try to make sense of what has happened to you and to recognise what you need to move forward.
We have a counselling service by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) counsellors for BAME women and young women. Jyoti counsellors speak Punjabi, Urdu and Mir Puri. We always use interpreters when needed so you can use the service, whatever language you speak.
Advocacy for refugee, asylum seeking and trafficked women
This specialist service will support you to recover from the violence, abuse and exploitation you have suffered, and to gain a place of safety where you can be in control of your own life and make positive decisions about your future.
An advocacy worker will work with you to solve immediate issues of safety and will address basic needs such as homelessness, lack of food and the need for mental & physical health services.
The worker will encourage, support & inform you so you can be active in your own immigration case, understand it, respond promptly when you get letters from the Home Office and solicitors, and be pro-active in collecting and discussing new evidence to support your case.
The advocacy worker will also work with you to build a support network around you including signposting and referring to other agencies and groups. She will support you to plan for the future, to get work experience through volunteering and gain skills & knowledge through attending community ESOL and IT classes, and where possible attending college and applying for bursaries and University places.
You will be supported to access other specialist sexual violence services at Bradford Rape Crisis including counselling to work on recovery from the trauma, and Mindfulness to learn useful techniques to help you deal with stress and anxiety.