Helping women dream of bright future

Lou Feltham Smith is helping survivors of domestic violence navigate life after separation, and dream of a bright future, through her charity Miracle Mums Movement Inc.

The concept came to the Peninsula mum soon after the birth of her fourth child and is more than four years in the making.

“I thought I really want to be part of the solution in helping survivors of domestic abuse to navigate that post-separation phase. It originated from my lived experience,” Lou explains.

“I was really lucky in that I was supported by lots of different organisations in the community. What I’ve learnt since, from other survivors, is they haven’t been as lucky.”

Originally it was a small business concept, but Lou quickly realised it was a better model for a not-for-profit organisation.

“I just wanted to run workshops for women to support them in their post-traumatic growth and help them to regain their confidence and their sense of self again after abuse, and to have it delivered by a group of women who have been through the same experience,” Lou explains.

“I thought how am I going to do this in a sensitive way. It naturally morphed into a not-for-profit organisation. It’s taken four years from that idea to where we’ve just soft launched.”

The Miracle Mums Movement Inc has recently finished running a six-week pilot workshop program involving eight women.

The organisation has received $50,000 in funding from The Komo to run a couple of rounds of the workshops, and will receive a further $150,000 from the State Government through State Member for Redcliffe Kerri-Anne Dooley to deliver them for the next couple of years.

“We’re at a point right now where it’s all starting to take off, the vision’s becoming a reality and we’re looking at how we can grow this,” Lou says.

“We’ve received really good feedback. They (the women) feel it’s a really supportive space, where they feel heard and seen.

“Just being around other survivors in the same room … we’re not focused on the trauma stories. We’re focused on the future and what they want to see for their lives in the future.”

Lou says participants take comfort and confidence from being with women who have shared similar experiences and understand how they are feeling.

“It’s not just a workshop. It’s a community that we’re building, where survivors can come together and feel that someone does get it,” she explains.

“I have a big vision … we’re starting local in Redcliffe and we’re going to rollout the workshops, get them fine-tuned … then we’re going to start rolling them out throughout Queensland, then interstate and then we’re going to go worldwide.”

The next series of workshops will start at the end of April.

Lou says turning her own lived experience into something that is helping others brings her joy.

“I’m now in a space where I can pay-it-forward to other women and have them experience that same joy and that same excitement for life,” she says.

“They can wake up in the morning and feel excited for life instead of feeling dread.”

Lou will share her story as a guest speaker at the Moreton Bay Says No 2 Violence event on May 30.

Women wanting to be involved in the workshops can join the waitlist via the website miraclemumsmovement.com