This pioneering programme led by Advance provides vital support for young women and girls who have experienced or who are at risk of domestic abuse or encountering the criminal justice system. We intervene at the earliest opportunity to help them escape harm and fulfil their aspirations.
The Maia Service:
Advance’s Maia Service provides mentoring and advocacy support, walking alongside young women and girls between the ages of 13-25 to get vital support at the earliest opportunity and prevent further harm.
We walk alongside young women and girls to build their trust, self-identity and confidence, and increase their skills and ability to recognise when and where to go for support.
Where appropriate, young women and girls within the programme will also be able to get mental health support from Woman’s Trust, a specialist charity providing free counselling and therapy for women who have experienced domestic abuse.
This vital work, funded by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), builds on Advance’s existing work with young women and girls in London, which has highlighted the critical importance of supporting young women and girl survivors at the earliest opportunity to help them lead safe and positive lives.
Advance aims to build their trust, self-identity, and confidence, as well as the skills and ability to recognise when and where to go for support.
We work with young women and girls who are:
- Aged 13-25 living in the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Camden, Brent, Islington and Westminster.
- Are experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse.
- Are affected by unhealthy relationships including exploitation, grooming, gang involvement, peer on peer abuse or criminal exploitation.
- Are at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system.
- Are at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment, training), including those at risk of exclusion or with low school attendance.
- Have been affected by violence or abuse at home or other adverse childhood experiences.
Advance’s Maia Service offers:
- Specialist early intervention and prevention support to girls and young women in our safe, young women and girls’ only spaces, empowering them to make a positive change in their lives.
- Young women and girls-centered one-to-one advocacy, and strengths-based support, through our Maia mentor advocates.
- Access to tailored group sessions empowering young women and girls to support each other and move forward with their lives.
- Support from Peer Mentors with lived experience creating a safe space to reflect on experiences.
- Specialist referral pathways and resources for young women and girls to access employment support.
- Therapeutic groups for young women and girls aged 16+ impacted by domestic abuse, delivered by specialist partner Woman’s Trust.
- Use of empowerment models to collaboratively create a safe space to allow her to tell her story in the way that she would like and at her pace.
To make a referral to the Maia or Lift service, please use our Case Consultation Request form
Toolkits
For more information on the Maia service, email maia@advancecharity.org.uk or call 0800 0590117
The service works in the in the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Camden, Islington, and Westminster.
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To make a referral to the Maia & Lift service, please use our Case Consultation Request form
Once completed, please send to maia@advancecharity.org.uk (non-secure) or maia@advance.cjsm.net (secure).
If returning a completed form to our non-secure email address, please ensure it is password-protected.
The Maia Support Line
0800 059 0117
Are you feeling uneasy? Worried about someone? Or just need someone to talk to?
We’re here to listen.
Advance is offering support and advice through the Maia Support Line in London:
- young women & girls aged 13–25
- parents
- professionals
Marketing materials:
The partners:
Woman’s Trust:
Helps women understand and overcome their experiences, so they may rebuild their capacities in order to help and safeguard themselves and their children, make positive choices and live lives from violence and abuse.
- When the clients have been referred to us, we will contact the client to book their places into the workshops.
- There will be 36 workshops for women between the ages of 16 and 25
- The workshops will be split into 2 programmes. Each programme will be repeated twice.
- One programme will be a block of 9 workshops for women aged 16-18 (which will then be repeated to allow further women to access).
- Another programme of 9 workshops will be for 19-25-year-olds
Eligibility criteria:
- Women aged 18+ with a conviction. Must have sufficient level of English to understand and engage one-to-one and in small groups.