Our Projects

Kyra is sometimes funded by grant-making bodies to deliver a particular project on a specific timescale, often targeting a particularly vulnerable group of women.

Route to Recovery

Route to Recovery is a 4 year programme funded by the National Lottery which is helping 240 women to recover from domestic abuse or mental ill health. Participants are able to join the Freedom Programme – a nationally-validated programme for survivors of domestic abuse – and have professional counselling, as well as joining in with any other Kyra activities.

Participants from the first year of the project said:

“I didn’t realise what an impact this place would have, its life changing already, and you can see that in the other women too. It does feel like a safe space.”

“I have completed all of the courses I wanted to attend for now on my R2R journey. Thank you once again for your kindness and support. I’m a completely different person now!”

We share the experience and learning from this project every year, starting at the York Festival of Ideas in June 2022.

You can read a full report on year 1 of the project here Route to Recovery Project Year One Report – FINAL, in our comprehensive report.

LATEST! Read our report on Year Two of this important project here 

RISE2THRIVE

RISE2THRIVE is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Kyra Women’s Project is offering support to women who are struggling with entering the Job market. You will have a Key Worker who will help and guide you in gaining the key skills you will need. She will work closely with you, help you with Job search, and look at any barriers that maybe holding you back.

Ambassador Programme

Our Ambassador Programme builds on the success of our Supporting Women in Rural Locations (SWIRL) project. That project used volunteer Kyra ambassadors in the villages surrounding York to highlight the support available to women from Kyra and other programmes, and to signpost women to the help they need.

Our new Ambassador Programme trains and equips Kyra ambassadors in workplaces in and around York, so that many more women are aware of the support they can get from us. Workplaces are provided with training, resources and support to help them signpost their customers, clients and colleagues to Kyra’s support.

Like SWIRL, this project is funded by the National Lottery Awards for All.

Pathways Project

Our Pathways Project is funded by the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s Community Fund. The Pathways Project’s aim is to change how we interact when members when they first enrol with us, so that women joining Kyra as members are offered a more structured pathway through all the support, courses and activities we have on offer here.

We’ll also be providing more opportunities to celebrate and mark their achievements, and to reflect on what they’ve learned and all the positive changes they’ve made in their lives since joining us as members.

The Pathways are being designed to meet specific needs and to help women reach their goals and build skills and confidence, all while making new connections here at Kyra. The new members will meet one-to-one with someone at Kyra who will guide them through the various courses and activities on offer, so that the new member can sign up for what feels right for them and progress through courses in an order that flows better and helps them achieve and sustain positive change.

ROSE Growing Project

Kyra is one of seven organisations set to benefit from a combined total of £250,000 across two years to help them develop innovative initiatives that can improve the lives of people experiencing serious mental ill-health in York. The funding comes from the Community Mental Health Transformation Grant which was set up to support voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in York to deliver new ways of supporting people in their local communities.

The grant, which is managed by York CVS on behalf of the York Mental Health Partnership and the Connecting our Cities Partnership, will support our ‘ROSE (Reaching Out, Supporting, Empowering) Growing project’. This offers an early intervention programme for young women aged 18-26 who are at risk of or recovering from serious mental illness, delivered through drop-in group sessions, wellbeing courses and counselling.

For more information about ROSE, contact Sherrie Wood sherrie@kyra.org.uk

ROSE Plus

A new social drop-in group with crafts and chats. Perfect to meet others of similar age in a safe space, while promoting positive mental wellbeing.

For people aged 26 to 30 (you can join from 25 ½)