Home Free is a collection of stories from women who have found safety after escaping domestic violence. We worked with a range of diverse partners over two years to produce a beautiful book for a range of audiences and uses.
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From the beginning we knew this was an ambitious project. Together with Bonnie Support Services, a feminist DV and homelessness service, we were starting from scratch. We had to raise a budget, find partners and work through complex ethical and personal safety issues.
In some way, this was one of our most challenging books to create because of the immense safety issues for the storytellers themselves and because DV is often a subject people turn away from.
Our strategy was to collaborate with an illustrator to tell these strength-based stories in a way that would protect the women’s identity and appeal to a whole range of new readers. For example young women, non-english speaking readers or for people with low literacy skills.
Home Free shares inspiring, first hand accounts from a diverse group of women. old and young, well off and struggling, Christian, Muslim and undecided. It’s a moving testament to the power of women to transform dross into gold.
Apart from our core audience of women facing domestic violence, the stories have been used by a range of service providers, researchers, funders, policy makers and trainers.
Our work with Moya and Only Human Stories also showed us what was possible. We are very proud of this book.
Many readers will see themselves in this collection: they’ll recognise the women’s experiences. But they will also see new possibilities. We’re proud that this book sparks both recognition and action towards strong, violence-free lives.
Tracy Phillips, Executive Director, Bonnie Support Services
Using the stories in other ways
These postcards communicate the key messages of the home free book and are used at events, reception areas and trainings.
