I’d like to share with you why the RAIN program has been so important in my life.

Fourteen months ago my situation was not so desperate that I felt I required any protection. Over the decade of my relationship, like a frog in a pot of cold water on a stove, I was unaware of the slow heat building up; the erosion of my self-esteem and person.

I went twice to the doctor for depression in the previous six years.

I was in a very complex web and didn’t see a clear path out until I was referred to RAIN. At first I thought I wasn’t suitable for the program because my partner never actually hit me. But after learning more about domestic abuse, I realised that I actually was being abused.

I refused to medicate myself and I struggled on with trying to adjust, change my attitude, work harder, be better… yet still nothing I did was good enough. I felt that everything that went wrong was due to my actions or inactions.