Suzanne
Suzanne was one of eight children but her parents divorced when she was ten years old. She was sent to a special school from the age of five to fifteen with her twin sister where, with the other mentally handicapped"
children, she did not learn to read or write. After leaving school early, Suzanne first looked after her mother's house and then her father's. Even when she moved to live with her father in a one bedroom flat, she remained cleaning for her mother. This was the only time her father let her out of the flat. She met her husband on CB radio after she saved up and bought one with the help of an uncle. She left home to live with her husband, who at the time was a manager of a local butcher shop.
After their marriage and two sons, Suzanne's husband became violent. He gave up regular work, refusing to let her out of the house controlling her every move. She had a third child, a daughter, and fears for her safety as well as her own prompted Suzanne to leave the violent relationship. She fled to a refuge, unable to take her teenage sons, and was eventually re-housed in another part of Liverpool by a local housing charity. Suzanne has been involved in the legal system - firstly to legally divorce her husband and secondly to require that her husband only has supervised access to her daughter. She was concerned because of the violence that she has received and also because her husband was a Schedule One offender.
Suzanne has managed to live independently with several layers of support for her and her daughter. These include a social worker for each of them, Social Service support including nursery, support from a voluntary charity, Sure Start support and also Chrysalis. She hasn't received help or support from her family and doesn't know anybody in the area that she has been re-housed in. Whilst finding it a struggle to survive, she attended several courses to enable her to learn to read and write in order to become more independent. She hopes to become a volunteer with Chrysalis, helping other women who have experienced domestic violence in their lives. Her main concern, and her main fear, is that she is able to care for her daughter so that she won't be taken away
by social workers.
"I've been watching videos and everything with them [Chrysalis] and I'm enjoying everything... I'm enjoying it because I'm starting to touch reality, starting to understand more..."
"I've started getting a bit of confidence in myself and I'm starting to talk to other mums at the nursery and giving them support, supporting them by getting them to tell me about their boyfriends, the way they are treating them... I want to help other women out there. If I can do it there's other women out there who can do it, if they put their mind to it."
"At first I was petrified, scared, I was like all choked in my body and I couldn't speak to anyone because they all thought, I though it was me. I thought it was me being wrong. But it wasn't me, now I know it's not me."