On 3rd April 2025 we were delighted to launch ‘Aspen’, our new service user space at Yellow Door. The facility was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Southampton, Cllr David Shields with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the company of many of our much-respected colleagues, partners and supporters including Donna Jones, Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.
As the photos show, Aspen is modern, bright and accessible space, with large bifold doors onto our garden. It provides an additional and valuable resource for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, partners and communities in Southampton. Aspen is now in use for group and one-to-one sessions with our service users, family therapy, art and play therapy as well as practitioner and volunteer training sessions.
Attendees at the event also heard about our next steps in this project – our exciting plans to develop our garden into a natural, fully accessible, trauma informed green space. This will enable our service users of all ages to feel a deeper connection with nature, support their recovery from abuse and help to heal their trauma. Our garden design was developed with our service users, and it is our hope that this will become a calming, wellbeing space for our service users, staff and volunteers to use. We are fundraising to enable these plans to come to life please see here for more details.
The event also provided a platform for sharing our plans to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We started as a small volunteer led helpline for people who had experienced sexual abuse, back in 1985. We’ll be marking this milestone year with a range of celebrations, exhibitions and events. There will be free online training from our specialist teams as well as in person networking breakfasts for practitioners working in our sector see this link for more details and to sign up.
We are immensely grateful to our supporters including those who provided grants and donations to the Aspen development: The Help to Create Hope Trust, The Clothworkers Foundation, Bernard Sunley Foundation, and The Screwfix Foundation. Expert advice was offered during the planning and development of the project from our Corporate Partners Gentian and SM:5 Developments. APD Construction & Improvements Ltd completed the work with support from Graham Ash Architects, Arbor Cultural, PFM Inspections and Romsey Structural Engineering. Thank you for all your support. If you have any questions or are interested in supporting any of our service developments or building and garden projects, please contact us email us info@yellowdoor.org.uk.