Our Purpose
After more than 50 proud years as the city’s primary provider of domestic abuse support, our purpose remains steadfast in supporting women and children in and around Wolverhampton affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence to be seen, heard and safe.
We provide safe accommodation and specialist services which recognise the intersecting needs in our city and adapt accordingly to give women and children the very best chance of success in their recovery journey.
We are fierce in our advocacy for global change and seek an end to all abuse suffered by women and children. In Wolverhampton, our priority is the immediate needs of the women and children in our city, where abuse is not and will not be tolerated. It is our commitment to them that we will provide the support and advocacy they require to be safe, and the tools and knowledge needed to stay safe. We will empower them to overcome their abuse, and we will support them towards a conclusion that sees them not just surviving but thriving.
Our message to the women and children of Wolverhampton affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence:
If you are here, you are one of us and we will support you to end the cycle of abuse. Whether resident in the city or newly arrived, with us you are “home” and we are in this together. The doors to our support services and safe accommodation are open, and in our city, you can be seen, heard and safe.
Seen
We believe you and we see you. Your journey is your own, and what you need from us may look different to someone else. Our role is to adapt to you, not the other way around. Recovery from abuse is hard. To give you the best chance to move forward and recover, we will support you as you are, not who you feel you have to be. We will make sure you are seen for who you are, not just what happened to you.
Heard
We will listen to your story without judgement. Our services reflect the communities we support, and in our wonderfully diverse city where over 80 languages are spoken, we will support you to communicate comfortably with us and others. Your voice will be integral to how we support you and we will work with you and our partner agencies to ensure that you are understood.
Safe
We will protect you. Our specialist services will work with you and our partner agencies to ensure that the protective measures you need to be safe from the abuse you have experienced are in place, effective and enduring. We will hold others to account for their role in protecting you and advocate with you on the days you feel able to speak, and for you on the days when you ask us to step in.
Leadership at The Haven
The Haven Wolverhampton is a registered charity governed by a committed Board of Trustees who provide strategic support, oversight, and accountability. Together, they safeguard our promise to women and children, ensure strong governance, and guide the long-term direction of the organisation so we can continue to deliver safe, high-quality support. While the Board takes a strategic role, leadership at The Haven is a collaboration of many key roles. We believe the strongest decisions are informed by the voices of those closest to the work.
Our Chief Executive champions our strategy and leads the day-to-day running of the charity, reporting directly to the Chair of the Board of Trustees. They are supported by a Senior Leadership Team who share responsibility for operational service delivery, business services, and the charity’s development, relationships, and long-term growth.
Crucially and unequivocally, our leadership is strengthened by lived experience and staff insight. Our Survivor Voice Forum ensures that women and families who use our services shape the support they receive, whilst influencing decisions, design and improvement. Alongside this, our Employee Voice Forum creates space for staff perspective, ideas and feedback, consistently informing how we work and how we grow.
Together, these voices help hold us accountable to what matters most: creating spaces where women and children feel seen, heard and safe. You can find the most up-to-date list of our Trustees below.
Lynne Moran, Chair
Lynne, the Chair of the Board of Trustees, is a retired senior probation officer and former councillor for Wolverhampton Labour. She has many years of professional and voluntary experience in community relations, family work, homelessness initiatives, and supporting women affected by trauma. More recently, following her time as a trustee at The Haven Wolverhampton, Lynne stepped up to provide leadership as chair during a challenging period of transition before a permanent CEO was recruited. With her commitment to reducing gendered violence, Lynne says: “My own experience informs my thinking about the impact of domestic abuse upon women and girls.”
Sally Bromley, Trustee
Well-connected within the Wolverhampton community, Sally is a self-employed business partnership consultant and netball coach. Sally’s longstanding relationship with The Haven began through her former role as Partnerships Manager at Paycare, a not-for-profit health cash-plan provider, and through fundraising, before offering her commitment as a trustee. Her professional financial and business experience, along with her local network, supports The Haven’s fundraising function, while her lived experience gives her a true understanding of the complex challenges that women survivors face. Sally says: “I am passionate about supporting an organisation that provides such vital, life-changing services.”
Donna Hughes, Trustee
Donna is a health and safety professional with more than 25 years’ experience. A Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Donna currently leads her organisation’s risk governance board and brings leadership, health and safety expertise, and commercial experience to her trustee role. She is a passionate advocate for women’s issues, using her public-speaking engagements and academic work as a platform, and is active in the LGBTQ+ space alongside her wife. A former Wolverhampton Samaritans trustee, she is keen to give back to the local community and says: “The Haven provides a brilliant service to women and children, and I feel privileged to support it. Violence against women and girls is at an all-time high, and I am keen to hopefully make a difference.”
Kerry Downes-Ward, Trustee
Trustee Kerry brings with her a wealth of professional and personal experience, with specialist expertise in qualified debt casework. With a MIMA Certificate in Money Advice Practice (CertMAP), Kerry supports people with money and benefits advice and has experience supporting neurodivergent adults and families. She also has her own lived experience, providing valuable insight at board level within an organisation supporting women and children affected by abuse. When not busy with her children and her cats, she volunteers for a charity supporting children with educational needs and is an Education Appeals Panel member and chair. Kerry says: “I wouldn’t be where I am now without The Haven. I want to support and give back to a charity that is vital and close to my heart.”
Michael Brooks, Trustee
Offering essential male allyship and perspective to the Board of Trustees of The Haven Wolverhampton is Michael, who is also Associate Director of Operation Excellence at Safran Electronics and Defence. With a career spanning five decades – four of those in management – Michael offers the board his expertise in leadership, team development, finance and budgeting, ethics and compliance, sustainability, environmental issues, and health and safety. Michael says he is “a firm believer that everyone is entitled to the same level of respect, safety, and opportunities in life,” and he is passionate about giving back to the local community. Recently, Michael, as part of the team at Safran, helped install play equipment and improve the garden at one of The Haven’s safe accommodation sites – much to the children’s delight!
Laura Cahill, Trustee
Trustee Laura is currently Business Development Manager at the Wolves Foundation, the local non-profit organisation and official club charity of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, which supports people in the community. Laura brings experience from a large but local non-profit in volunteering, event management, safeguarding, and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. She has been a longstanding supporter of The Haven before more recently joining as a trustee. Holding The Haven in high esteem, Laura says: “I have been a passionate supporter and fundraiser of THW for over 12 years. As a survivor of domestic abuse myself, I wanted to turn this negative into a positive by helping others.”
Clare Roberts Molloy, Co-optee
Clare is an award-winning and well-connected social entrepreneur, having founded multiple non-profits including Periods Matter, which reduces period poverty in the local community, as well as TEDxWolverhampton and TEDxWolverhampton Women. Clare is a Midlife Mindset and Leadership Coach, Business Development Professional, Magistrate, and Bid/Tender Writer. She’s passionate about promoting and advocating for women’s rights, regularly speaking publicly in this space. Clare also founded and hosts the Wolverhampton International Women’s Day Conference, which celebrates the successes and contributions of the region’s entrepreneurial and professional women. Her commitment to supporting victim survivors comes from her lived experience, having spent two decades in a toxic relationship. Bringing her rich and varied expertise to the board as a co-optee, Clare says: “Being part of this charity means I get to give back to the community and help other women reclaim their power, their voice, and their future.”
This means we are accredited to deliver training qualifications by AIM Qualifications and Assessment Group.
Our Disability Confident Commitment means we are ensuring inclusive recruitment processes and working practices, furthering our commitment to equality of opportunity. You can find out more about the Disability Confident Commitment here.
Demonstrates the unique quality of dedicated specialist services for women and children survivors. The Standards support dedicated specialist domestic abuse services like The Haven by providing a set of criteria against which we can evidence our quality.
As a living wage employer we are committed to paying our staff the ‘real living wage’ as a minimum. This is the amount needed to meet the actual cost of living in the UK. You can find out more about the Living Wage here
As organisational members of the Helplines Partnership, we meet their good practice criteria and provide support through multiple channels, aiming to improve the wellbeing of everyone we speak to.