Together Women, Halifax

Together Women supports women and girls across the North of England, with particular focus on women who are involved in, or at risk of entering, the criminal justice system. From our safe women’s centres, we provide tailored support across a range of different pathways, including housing, domestic abuse, debt and unemployment. As a charity led by women, for women, we provide trauma informed, holistic support to help break cycles of trauma, abuse and re-offending, and evoke systems change. A mental health specialist Key Worker is based at our Halifax Centre once a week, providing tailored and specialist emotional wellbeing support to women referred in through probation.

Our Halifax Women’s Centre operates on an appointment-only basis. Women can only be referred to our Halifax Women’s Centre service through Probation. Probation services are co-located in our centre to offer women a trauma-informed, gender-specific space from which to complete their probation appointments.

Together Women are one of seven Women’s Centres across England and Wales who are part of the Effective Women’s Centre’s Partnership, funded by JABBS foundation and led by a research team at the University of Birmingham.

Central to this project is piloting the use of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA). The WRNA is a comprehensive, trauma-and gender-responsive risk, needs, and strengths assessment designed specifically to be used with criminal justice-involved women. The focus is to provide a solid evidence base across the Women’s Sector, to propose a workstream for women in the CJS that adequately meets their needs and effectively breaks the cycle of reoffending.