Recognising these challenges, in 2024 we established an accessibility working group focused on improving access, engagement and outcomes for underrepresented groups, with women identified as a key priority.

To better understand how our services are experienced by women, our research team recently conducted consultations with female service users, interviewed frontline and operational staff, reviewed programme materials and undertook secondary research. This work identified several key themes:

HIGH LEVELS OF TRAUMA Many women accessing our services have experienced domestic abuse, sexual violence, or child removal. Our consultations revealed that existing services don’ t always meet these complex, traumarelated needs.

WOMEN-ONLY SPACES Gender-specific groups were described as vital in facilitating safety, honesty and emotional comfort.

SERVICES SHAPED AROUND MALE NORMS Programme manuals, physical environments and residential settings often implicitly assume male participants, limiting suitability for women.

PRACTICAL BARRIERS Inconsistent communication, fragmented care pathways and caring responsibilities were reported as obstacles to engagement.

Despite these challenges, women consistently described Forward Trust’ s services as transformative, with more than half saying the support had‘ saved my life’. Strong therapeutic relationships, compassionate staff and peer connection were repeatedly highlighted as key strengths.

Over the past couple of years, we’ ve been actively developing and strengthening initiatives to improve access, engagement and outcomes for women. Our research reinforced the import ance of this work and highlighted women’ s priorities, which will help to shape ongoing develop ments. These initiatives include:

» Monitoring participation and outcomes to ensure women’ s experiences and recovery progress are better tracked and understood.

» Development of a female prisoner practitioner handbook to support genderresponsive, trauma-informed care in women’ s custodial settings.

‘ The Prison Practitioner Handbook for the Female Estate, co-designed with frontline staff, is designed to support practitioners in delivering gender‐informed work with women in custody, recognising the distinct experiences and needs they can present with,’ says service development manager Stacey Budds.‘ It provides guid ance, practical information and core skills to strengthen effective engagement, embed trauma-informed practice, and foster positive, professional relation ships with the women they support.’

» Domestic abuse awareness training for frontline staff, enhancing their ability to support women with complex needs.

» Women-only groups across our East Kent and Southend community hubs, complemented by existing peer-led groups within Forward Connect.

‘ The women that attend the groups all say the same thing – that they feel heard, safe and seen,’ says Kelly Cooper-Smith, East Kent inclusion practitioner.‘ For me that’ s validation that the groups work and are very much needed within our communities. I couldn ' t be prouder of the strength and courage these women have during really tough times.’

» Childcare funding to remove barriers for clients accessing support in our Essex service.

» Expanded access to special ist support through partnerships, including sexual health workers, support for women involved in prostitution and cervical smear test nurses, improving women’ s access to essential care.

» Women’ s recovery housing in Kent, Medway and Southend, designed to help women who are recovering from drug or alcohol dependency

These initiatives aim to address the systemic barriers women face, create safe and supportive spaces, and ensure that our recovery services are responsive to their lived experiences.

We’ re committed to building on the progress made and ensuring that women continue to have equitable access to our recovery services. Over the coming year, we’ ll be trialling women’ s drop-in sessions in local family centres, redesigning some of our programme materials through a gender-responsive lens and strengthening partnerships with specialist women’ s organisa tions to address complex needs such as trauma and caring responsibilities.

By embedding these improvements into our programmes and sharing our learning across the sector, we aim to create recovery services that are genuinely incl us ive, responsive, and effective – helping more women achieve sustainable, lifechanging outcomes.

Ketiwe Anjorin is head of equality, diversity and inclusion at The Forward Trust. Contact: edi @ forwardtrust. org. uk

8 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • MARCH 2026

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