Reclaim Your Power
71 Women. Two Days. A Whole Lot of Power Reclaimed.
How a free community project taught women and girls that safety is a skill everyone deserves access to.
About Reclaim Your Power
In the summer and autumn of 2026, we ran two full-day workshops in the heart of two SNG communities in Andover - and what happened in those rooms was something we're incredibly proud of.
Reclaim Your Power was a free, five-hour personal safety programme designed specifically for women and girls. No experience needed. No cost. No intimidating gym environment. Just a welcoming space where women could learn real, practical skills that could genuinely change how safe they feel in their everyday lives.
We know that one in four women will experience violence in their lifetime. We also know that most women modify their behaviour daily - the routes they take, the times they go out, the way they carry themselves - all because of safety concerns. Traditional self-defence courses often don't speak to that reality. They can be male-led, expensive, and built around techniques that aren't practical for real life. Reclaim Your Power was built differently. It was designed for women, by women, and it showed.
The workshops covered personal safety awareness, practical self-defence techniques, confidence-building and boundary-setting, voice projection, accessible movement, mental resilience and stress management, and a community connection circle where participants could share experiences and support one another. Every single woman left with a certificate and printed safety resources to take home.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
71
Total participants across both events (we set out to reach 50-60)
93%
Made or strengthened friendships at the event
100%
Feel safer in their daily life after attending
100%
Want to attend future events
96%
Feel more confident in their daily life
Before attending, the average participant rated their self-defence ability at just 2.2 out of 5 and their confidence in personal safety at 2.4 out of 5. In five hours, those numbers - and more importantly, how these women felt - shifted completely.
But impact like this is hard to capture in statistics alone. What we saw in those rooms was women arriving quietly and leaving loudly. We saw teenagers walk in nervous and walk out taller. We saw women in their fifties realise they were more capable than they had ever been told. We saw friendships form between strangers. That is what Reclaim Your Power was really about.
Reaching the Women Who Need It Most
This project wasn't about reaching people who already feel confident and connected. It was about reaching the women who are too often left out of these conversations.​
Of the 71 women who attended:
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100% were female, ranging in age from 14 to 59
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72% had a disability or long-term health condition
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28% had experienced bullying
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12% were domestic abuse survivors
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Many came from marginalised backgrounds with limited access to affordable wellbeing programmes
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These are the women for whom a free, accessible, trauma-informed workshop isn't a nice-to-have - it's a lifeline. We are deeply grateful that Reclaim Your Power was able to reach them, and committed to continuing to do so.
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What Our Participants Said
"I've wanted to do a self defence course for years but haven't found one until now. I'm so happy this exists as it will give me and so many other women more confidence in our daily lives."
"I attended with my teenage daughter and am so pleased to be able to empower her as she gains her independence."
"I wouldn't know where to start to learn the skills I did at this event and I've come away feeling more hopeful when I felt a bit overwhelmed just going out."
"This event was brilliant. I feel safer knowing that I have some new skills in my pocket. Every female deserves access to these skills."
"What Charlotte has built is very powerful and much needed."
