Women's Community
#Safety first…recovery depends on it.
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From its very beginning, Hope and Vision Communities was built on lived experience - a community shaped by those who have walked the path of addiction, recovery, and renewal. When our founders, Tony and Peter, began this journey five years ago, they carried a shared vision: that one day, Hope and Vision would create a dedicated space for women. Five years on, that vision is becoming reality.
Right now, too many women in recovery are facing an impossible choice...
- unsafe housing with men or substance users
- or homelessness
For mothers, the cost is particularly devastating. Without safe housing, they can’t be reunited with their children.
No woman should have to choose between recovery and safety.
With your support, we can change this.
We are opening our first women's community!
Why are women's needs different to men?
At Hope and Vision, we know that addiction is never just about substance use; it’s about pain, loss, and the search for belonging. And while men and women share many of the same struggles, women in recovery often face unique challenges - rebuilding family relationships so they can see their children, healing from trauma and abuse within intimate relationships and finding safety and trust in spaces where they can truly be themselves.
Our new Women’s Community will provide that space - a safe, trauma-informed home where women can recover with dignity, rediscover their purpose, and rebuild their lives together.
The wider impact of providing a safe home
At Hope and Vision, we create lasting change by providing long-term accommodation alongside wraparound support and purposeful activities. This enables our residents to move beyond survival and begin to truly thrive - developing hope, independence and a renewed sense of purpose. Thriving is a key factor in sustaining recovery, with research showing it can account for up to 55% of the difference in relapse rates.
Our Women’s Community achieves impact through:
- A reduction in women’s homelessness
- Lasting recovery from substances
- Employment, training, and volunteering opportunities
- Improved physical and mental health
- Exiting abusive relationships
- Reduction in offending behaviours
- Stronger family connections
Each of these outcomes also delivers significant financial savings to the wider community. Evidence shows that every £1 invested in recovery can yield £3–£4 in return, and our early projections estimate a social return on investment (SROI) of 6 for our women’s community. Another way of looking at this, is that for every £1 spent on the Women’s Community, £6 is saved elsewhere.
The Homes
We are looking to open two homes in the Gloucester area. Each one will support two women. Each home will be decorated to a high standard and fully furnished.
We have implemented a REAL rent model (Realistic, Ethical, Adaptive, Liveable). When a woman moves into employment, she will be required to pay rent at a market rate that is low enough to be affordable, but not so low as to prevent her from transitioning into fully independent living.
Support
Our resettlement officer will support women from the first point of contact, all the way until she is has moved on into a home of her own.
This includes learning vital life skills - such as paying bills, cooking, and budgeting - while also receiving the emotional support needed to grow in recovery.
Home Again
We know that we will be supporting mothers who are seeking to rebuild relationships with their children.
Our Home Again project will help mothers to reconnect with children not in their care. We will help to improve the quality of their contact. This includes both remote and in person, with potential for children to be reunited with their mum in the home.
To be notified when we will be open for referrals please complete the form on our contact page:
Our Team
Hannah has worked in the drug and alcohol / women’s sector for over 25 years. She has worked in both the statutory and voluntary sector, with roles in settings as diverse as NHS prescribing services, mobile needle exchange outreach and GP / pharmacy liaison.
Her most recent role before moving into independent consultancy was as CEO of an award-winning Southwest women’s charity, with overarching responsibility for community and residential services.
She chairs / participates on national addiction and domestic abuse forums including the Women’s Treatment Working Group and the Choices Rehabs networks. She was a member of the Ministry of Justice Expert Advisory group for female offenders and have evidence to both the Lord Farmer Review and the Home Office Roundtable for the UK Drugs Strategy.
Hannah is particularly passionate about women’s rights. She is a proud feminist and loves to create conditions where women can connect with and empower one another. In 2021, Hannah was awarded Master of Science (Honoris Causa Marjon University) in recognition of her service to women and children. In 2022, she was awarded a Westcountry Women’s Award in the category of Combatting VAWG.
Isla is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at The Open University. Her research interests relate to gender, offending and rehabilitation, and many involved in her research projects have substance addictions which have resulted in interactions with the criminal justice system. In 2018 she co-founded the Women, Family, Crime and Justice research network with colleagues at Leicester, where they ran regular well attended seminars with a range of speakers, including those with lived experience.
She is co-director of the Harm & Evidence Research Collaborative at the Open University, has contributed evidence to Justice Committee’s calls for evidence, and regularly presents work at national and international conferences. She previously volunteered for the Independent Monitoring Board and HMP Onley, and New Bridge Foundation.
Since 2016 she has been a Trustee of an inclusive, farm-based charity supporting brighter futures for people with learning disabilities.
Kirstie has over 20 years working with and supporting women who are homeless and experiencing housing challenges, across both the public and charity sectors.
Throughout her career, she has a developed a deep understanding of the barriers women face in accessing stable accommodation and the importance of compassionate support designed around women’s needs.
She has thoroughly enjoyed her career in housing and homelessness but has recently moved into a leadership role within the substance use sector, which has quickly become a source of genuine passion. The crossover between housing, homelessness, and substance misuse, especially in relation to the lived experience of women, has opened up new perspectives and opportunities to make a meaningful impact.
She excited to bring her experience and insight to the Women’s Community, helping to shape and develop a service that is responsive to women’s individual needs.
Laura Is an experienced Head of Mortgage Sales at a Building Society with over 24 years in financial services.
Laura’s professional expertise in strategic oversight, governance and financial acumen have led to her being recognised at one of the ‘Elite Women in Finance’. Laura’s commitment to the Women’s Community is driven by witnessing the profound challenges faced by family and friends impacted by domestic abuse and addiction.
Laura is passionate that Hope & Vision should help provide a sanctuary where women find safety, healing and a renewed vision for their future.
In her spare time Laura is kept very busy by her 4 children and cockapoo Luna. She loves yoga, meditation and spirituality practices.
Nelly has more than a decade of experience in finance, audit and business planning in various multinational companies, in several countries around Europe. Having built an environmental community project in Maidenhead, she can help Hope and Vision on the finance side of its growth journey.
As a busy, working mum, she understands how important it is that women are recognised as mothers, and that the relationship between women and their children is supported.
Joelah is a qualified Senior Social Worker with experience working in statutory services, supporting children and families with challenges and issues that arise, including drug and alcohol addiction, criminality, mental health, domestic violence, homelessness, exploitation, trauma and more.
Joelah has worked extensively with children and families completing care and needs assessment of children, parents, and their wider families, as well as working alongside the court with regards to recommendations for children’s permanency.
Joelah has experience in the charity sector and overseas volunteer work in Romania, Albania, and having previously been a trustee and field officer completing outreach work in Kenya, working alongside social work teams, supporting the community, responding to need, and overseeing new projects and ideas.
Throughout her career, Joelah has been passionate about working with women, exploring and supporting them in the unique challenges they face both within their own family dynamics, as well as within society as a whole.