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Latest News
HerAdvocate funding
We’re thrilled to share that Her Circle has been awarded over £425,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund through the Reaching Communities programme.
This funding will support the delivery of HerAdvocate across the Combined Authority area — an intensive advocacy model designed to support mothers with complex needs and help prevent avoidable child removal.
Her Advocate provides consistent, trauma-informed support to women navigating domestic abuse, mental health challenges, substance use, and poverty, working alongside them to build stability, strengthen parenting capacity, and improve outcomes for their children.
“This funding is a significant step forward in ensuring mothers facing complex challenges receive the sustained, relational support they need. Her Advocate is about standing alongside women so that fewer families experience the trauma of separation and more children can safely remain with their mothers.”
Amy Van Zyl, CEO
This funding is made possible thanks to National Lottery players.
Her Circle on BBC Radio
11th July 2025
Listen in to our CEO Amy Van Zyl speak about the mental heath of women who experience complex motherhood alongside Dr Kaat De Backer on the day research is published confirming the leading cause of death in the maternal period is suicide and that the majority of these women are known to children's social care before they die.
These outcomes are harrowing but all to familiar to organisation like Her Circle who work alongside these women daily.