Destiny Lifeline

So you might be wondering why I wanted to do these 3 sporting challenges and where any money raised will be going? I chose Destiny Lifeline as my charity for donations as I heard Lynn Smillie talking passionately about why she started up the organisation so I met with her to get a bit more insight:

Q: What is Destiny Lifeline?

A: Lifeline is here to deal with the destructive effects that abuse, sex trade (prostitution and trafficking) and prison have on individuals and their families.

Through the past 9 years as I’ve healed from the effects from my own mother being murdered by my father after a life of domestic abuse and I have a burning desire to raise awareness in women and their families on what abuse actually is. A lot of people don’t realise they are abusing others through emotional, verbal or sexual behaviours and it is only now in recent years that the research has shown it comes in many forms. Often it can start with gentle sarcasm and progress to violence and very commonly sexual violence and finally domestic homicide. One of the biggest and most profound discoveries within myself researching back to my own family and in and around my friends and close acquaintances is a thing called ‘love addiction’.

[Love addiction is a human behavior in which people become addicted to the feeling of being in love. Love addicts can take on many different behaviors. Love addiction is common; however, most love addicts do not realize they are addicted to love. Love addiction can be treated with various recovery techniques, most of which are similar to recovery from other addictions such as sex addiction and alcoholism, through group meetings and support groups.^[1] Addictive love is an inclusive term in that it includes “addicts” and “co-addicts”, “co-dependents“, “emotional anorectics”, and “love avoidants”.. ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_addiction]

Q: What are you doing at lifeline to support these ladies?

A: Working alongside key Glasgow city projects*; police; social work and our sister organisation Destiny Angels**. We receive referrals regarding ladies of all ages and backgrounds with different types of abuse which is either previous or current and work on an individual basis according to their specific requirements.

*We are currently extending our operations to other Scottish cities – next are Aberdeen and Peterhead with an outlook of Edinburgh later in 2013.

**Destiny Angels is a project supporting the cities most destitute with food and clothing drop in on a Wednesday and a Friday at the Glasgow Gorbals Christian Centre and telephone support line 0333 900 0909.

Our Destiny Lifeline outreach consists of:

Street Outreach
2:2:1 i.e. two volunteers meeting with 1 vulnerable lady in need of support
Groupwork

: Groupwork : Treating the ladies to high tea every week ‘because they are worth it!’

Once contact is established, we carry out an assessment to identify experience and current issues, implementing awareness of perpetrating behaviours in comparison to normal behaviours and also carry out a health, safety and planning programme based on their needs. It must be said that great emphasis is put on the safety of the individual after awareness is given because statistics prove that the majority of domestic homicide happens within two weeks of an individual resisting the abuser.

Q: How do you raise money for Lifeline and how can people get involved?

A: We raise money through selling the crafts created during group work, through the Cafe and through individual and corporate sponsorship and donations. [We are currently setting up the VirginMoneyGiving charity page and this will soon be available]

Q: What happens to the money raised?

A: All money raised for Lifeline first contributes towards taking the women out, materials for group work (includes crafts, reading material, high tea cakes, sandwiches, fruit) and we are working towards our vision of buying and maintaining a restoration home. A safe house to take ladies out of danger.

We want to take them on a journey from their most destitute condition to getting them safe, fed, providing them training and getting them employable again even running their own businesses and becoming fully independent members of society. Given time and restoration we’d love to have them back as Life volunteers supporting and using their experiences to the benefit of others. We currently run a not for profit social enterprise ‘Dorcas Cafe’ and craft shop ‘Dorcas Closet’ selling crafts produced by the ladies and local craftsmen and women situated within Destiny Church, 1120 Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, Glasgow G41 3QP.

Groupwork – High Tea served to ladies to give them the treatment they deserve…

Groupwork: Arts and Crafts