About Us
Our Vision
Our vision is to have communities in which people live free from all forms of actual or threatened abuse including, but not limited to, domestic abuse, sexual violence and childhood abuse.
Our Mission
Our mission is to prevent abuse, particularly in minoritised communities and Muslim communities. We aim to deliver trauma-informed and culturally competent responsive services for survivors of abuse, so they can heal from the trauma of abuse and lead more meaningful lives.
Our Values
People First –a deeply relational approach creating a safe, warm and healing space.
Always Compassionate – an empathic, non-judgemental and compassionate approach that is grounded in respect and treating all survivors with dignity
Trauma-informed Care – promoting long-term healing, preventing re-traumatisation and deeply connecting with lived experiences of survivors of abuse
Social Justice – advocating for, and actively working towards, everyone’s right to lead safe, meaningful lives free of inequality and injustice.
Leading in Excellence – building on our unique skills, expertise and experience; innovating, partnering and co-creating whilst always striving for excellence.
Cultural Competency – valuing, understanding and honouring every individual’s unique lived experience.
Promoting Voice – promoting the voice of individuals, organisations and communities to tackle inequalities and injustice.
Who we are
Nour is an Arabic word meaning ‘light’ and Nour exists as a healing light for sufferers of abuse and trauma. Nour was founded by women from minoritised backgrounds, in recognition that assumptions made about who experiences abuse and the narratives around domestic abuse in minoritised communities are impacting the ability of survivors to come forward and access support. If they do not feel that the support services will understand their culture, religion, family dynamics and pressures, they are less likely to ask for help. Our grassroots work in the community identified the lack of resources, services, and a voice for minoritised survivors around domestic abuse and the desperate need for culturally competent, trauma-informed services for survivors. As Nour’s services grew, it became apparent that many of our survivors had experienced other forms of abuse such as sexual violence and childhood abuse. This led to us expanding our work beyond the field of domestic abuse, ensuring that we could address other forms of abuse in our communities and support more survivors.
What we do
At Nour, we passionately believe in helping survivor’s make lasting changes, through a holistic approach, which includes healing from the trauma of abuse, in order to lead more meaningful lives; this approach incorporates free services including counselling, legal advice, financial advice, practical and emotional support, training and development. At Nour, we work to tackle the silent, yet prevalent social issues of domestic abuse, sexual violence and childhood abuse in minoritised communities, in particular, but not exclusively, Muslim communities. However, our services are open to all adult survivors of abuse, including, but not limited to, survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and childhood abuse. Our services are trauma- informed – so that we can really meet people where they are at in the way that they need. We believe a trauma-informed approach is essential for the work with survivors of abuse:
Trauma decontextualized in a person looks like personality. Trauma decontextualized in a family looks like family traits. Trauma in a people looks like culture.
Our decade of service has given us an immeasurable understanding of cultural, faith, and community issues which places Nour in a unique position to deliver qualitative, informative, and impactful programmes. Nour focus on the human experience of abuse and trauma, and the very human response that’s needed. We recognise through our work with the Muslim community, religion is often used as a tool to silence survivors of abuse. Survivors have reported that often the misinformed ‘Islamic’ advice they receive perpetuates the abuse and colludes with abusers. Survivors are often told to have patience (Arabic word is sabr) with their situation and with abusers. In response to this, we provide a service where qualified Islamic advisors can support survivors, refute such approaches and challenge the structures and narratives that condone abuse in our communities. This grassroots approach to the work is essential for highlighting a key message:
Sabr (patience) does not equate to enduring of suffering in silence, living with oppression and abuse.
“After trauma the world is experienced with a different nervous system. The survivor’s energy now becomes focused on suppressing inner chaos, at the expense of spontaneous involvement in their lives. These attempts to maintain control over unbearable physiological reactions can result in a whole range of physical symptoms, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and other autoimmune diseases. This explains why it is critical for trauma treatment to engage the entire organism, body, mind, and brain.”
We work to ensure that our services can provide long-term, wrap-around support for survivors to heal from trauma and lead more meaningful lives. Our counselling service is free and we provide up to 22 sessions of counselling with therapists from minoritised backgrounds, who are trained in working with survivors of abuse and trauma.
At the core of our counselling and other services, is a deeply relational approach, working sensitively and empathically with diversity and cultural issues. We aim to be a safe and healing place for survivors of abuse to find support and solace.