Most of you know me as Women’s Warrior on the Deafening Silence channel. I’ve built that space with you — true crime, songs, real talk, and awareness — and the trust there means everything. This fundraiser is how I turn that same heart into actual, ongoing help.
I didn’t cope when my parents split. I was almost ten. I started sneaking cigarettes from my mum’s box and buying them for 20p on the way to school. At twelve my friends were smoking cannabis; one big bucket as a joke made me sick and I never touched it again. Around the same age alcohol appeared. One night a much older man got me and a friend so intoxicated I could barely walk or talk. What happened after that I carried alone for years. I didn’t tell anyone until recently.
From thirteen I tried LSD and amphetamine. Cocaine at fifteen. Ecstasy at seventeen. Recreational use ran through until I was twenty-two and had my daughter. I smoked heroin a couple of times and left it. Then at twenty-four the man I had known since I was fifteen — my old amphetamine, ecstasy and cocaine dealer — started injecting me so I would have to ask him and wait. He also spiked me with benzos when I tried to go to college, making me feel too tired and low to keep going. Control was the point.
On 5 November 2008 I got onto methadone, moved away, handed over the dealers’ numbers, and began the reduction. I have been drug-free ever since. I don’t drink. I only smoke cigarettes. That day I ran for my life and I stopped everything.
I turned the years of addiction and the violence that sat beside it into qualifications and real experience helping other women and children get free and stay free. Then I had to step back to care for my dad who has dementia. As a single mum on benefits I can only afford one tool at a time. I keep choosing between what my own children need and what someone else needs to get out.
For over a year now I have been trying to find a way to raise awareness and the funds to make this vision come to life. Every day I meet more and more people who could benefit from what I have to offer. The hard part is I could begin immediately if I had the money to start and keep going. I will not pick people up only to let them down in a week or two because the resources run out. Trust, continuity and reliability matter. People who are already scared or struggling need to know the door will still be open next month.
Deafening Silence stays my true-crime community channel. This fundraiser builds the service side — Dear Delilah is the heart and the songs; End Of My Hope is the practical door.
What the money opens (addiction first):
SMART Recovery meetings for people in addiction or early recovery
Separate SMART Recovery meetings for loved ones
Recovery Academy
precontemplation sessions
Treatment groups and abstinence-maintenance groups.
One-to-one support after assessment: 6–12 months for long-term addiction (opiates, benzos, methadone reduction) — weekly 30 minutes, fortnightly 45 minutes, or monthly 1 hour.
8-week brief intervention for cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis and similar.
An app for tools and connection between sessions.
The door also stays open for domestic violence and family safety support, because addiction and abuse so often live in the same house.
No one is turned away for lack of money. Everything is online and aimed especially at people in the USA, Australia and Canada, where these services are still years behind.
Staged goals:
GiveSendGo takes 0% platform fee. As a UK recipient the processor takes roughly 3.5% + $0.30 per donation. Optional tip is set to zero. Amounts include a small buffer.
$200 / £150 — First milestone: one month of broadband and core tools so I can answer the first messages and keep creating.
$500 / £380 — Phone and second month so proper support calls and the first SMART groups can start.
$1,200 / £910 — Livestream-ready set-up so Deafening Silence and the new groups can reach further.
$2,800 / £2,120 — Insurance and a short operating buffer that protects everyone.
$5,800 / £4,400 — Full ongoing service open: groups, one-to-one, app, and the door that stays open.
Start at $200. When we hit it I will raise the goal and show exactly what it unlocked. Every gift helps me open the doors fully and keep them open with the continuity people can trust.
If they find me, I have done all I can with what I have. Please help me keep helping them.
Thank you for standing with Women’s Warrior and Deafening Silence.
