As Friday morning draws nearer and the start of the walk looms, we caught up with some of the team taking part to see how they are feeling about the weekend ahead. Walking the equivalent of a marathon a day for the next three days, the team shared their thoughts, feelings, excitement, and apprehensions with us. See what they had to say below (you might be surprised to hear how prepared they are!) How are you all feeling about the walk ahead? Bridget (Office and Finance manager): “I’m so excited! I love a challenge! I saw a sign for the Leeds Country Trail when I was out the other day and I go ..read more

At 2:30pm on September 11th, the team made it back to Oulton Hall, having completed their 100km in just two and a half days. Having had a couple of days to rest and recover we caught up with the team to discuss the experience, the lows, the highs and everything in between, Take a look at what they had to say. ...and if you're wondering...the answer to the teams questions - collectively they walked 286 miles (plus a few extra for the odd wrong turn here and there ..read more

Have you ever wondered how the support we offer women impacts on their lives? We spoke to Annie* (not her real name), and asked her what life was life before she accessed support through WHM, and how the support she had been offered had impacted on her. Listen to what she had to say in the video below, and if you would like to help more women like Annie, please make a small donation to our fundraising campaign. https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a056900002ND6bDAAT ..read more

In partnership with LASSN, the very talented Hala shows us how to prepare a Palestinian Breakfast of houmous and za'atar, served with tea. #RefugeeWeek2021 ..read more

Welcome to Women's Health Matters, where we empower women and girls to lead safe and healthy lives. Our mission is clear: we provide a holistic, trauma-informed service tailored for those often overlooked or marginalised. This includes, but is not limited to, those affected by domestic abuse, those whose children live elsewhere, those accessing maternity services, women seeking asylum, women with disabilities, and women and their children experiencing trauma. We take a woman-centred holistic approach, creating a safe, nurturing environment to help women and girls recover their confidence, expl ..read more

To raise awareness of the disadvantages and well-being struggles the women we support face, some of the Women’s Health Matters staff team will be walking a total of 100km in just three days! That's over 60 miles - the equivalent of walking from Leeds to Nottingham! We purposefully chose this challenge as we wanted it to be a test for us, it couldn’t be something easy as we know that the women we support often face real struggles throughout their lives and to access much-needed support. This walk is intended to reflect how hard this can be, and the fact that life is often full of twists and tu ..read more

Rainbow Hearts is a weekly group for women seeking asylum in Leeds supported by Leeds City Council. At Rainbow Hearts, women of all ages unite to exchange emotional support with others who share similar experiences. We provide health and social support sessions covering topics like self-care, wellbeing, and nutrition. Additionally, creative activities such as therapeutic art, singing, and movement sessions are offered. Hosted by People in Action and facilitated by Women's Health Matters, Feel Good is our weekly support group focusing on healthy relationships for women with learning disabilitie ..read more

Hello I’m Taylor Harrison, the newest member of the Women’s Health Matter’s team and the project lead for the Breathe Free project. I started in April and have been busy along with my 3 colleagues setting up the project. We have been running face to face groups for the past 4 weeks, and will continue to have weekly groups until the school summer holidays start (all groups run term time only) . Breathe Free runs two different groups, firstly a Stabilisation Group runs for eight weeks and focuses on supporting women to develop a toolkit to feel safe, to have experience of groups, and to build c ..read more

When we set ourselves the challenge of walking 100km in just three days, we knew we needed to be thoroughly prepared. Some of our team walk long distances regularly, and others don't. We're very much a mixed ability group, and this had to be taken into consideration when planning our route. We spent a long time considering our options before we settled on The Leeds Country Way. At 62 miles long (almost 100km) it's the perfect route for our challenge. With some minor adjustments we knew we could extend the walk to just over 100km, and, just like magic, there is our 100km walk. The route also en ..read more

Women’s Health Matters has received £20,000 from Postcode Neighbourhood Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The funding boost has enabled Women’s Health Matters to run our Snowdrops project since October 2021. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need for support, we set up the project to offer one-to-one practical and emotional support and well-being packs for those who need it most. Snowdrops is open to any woman across Leeds who has experienced trauma and been affected by the pandemic. Women who have attended the Snowdrop ..read more