“We discovered Clare Jones and her amazing ‘women centred working’ website at just the right moment as we were developing our ethos as a brand new women’s centre. It has had the most dramatic impact because although I (as the Founder Director) had some thoughts on our ethos – they were suddenly in front of me in a valuable evidenced format with much more detail which I was able to distribute to my board, to our potential funders, to local women who have become volunteers and helped us drive the whole project forward quicker in a professional manner. Clare has supported me with key information , advice and positive affirmation that we were ‘doing it right’ – it is so reassuring to know that I can call her, we can check things, we can communicate with other existing women’s centre via her and that she has our back so to speak. Prior to that I had endlessly trailed through many other women’s centre web pages – seeing a real mix of provision, well guarded service methods and could not find any ‘national org’ so to speak that had the joined up thinking. Having the information then led to other important connections such as the Centre for Welfare Reform where we download all the related ‘Women at the Centre’ documents, powerpoint slides and information. Without a shadow of doubt , finding Women Centred and Clare has been a major catalyst in our journey towards opening a new women’s centre.”

“Clare Jones of Women Centred Working has been an amazing source of both support and inspiration for our organisation. Her knowledge of the sector we operate within along with her personal passion for making a difference to the lives of women is an absolute gift to us. We are incredibly lucky to have found each other.”

“Clare Jones was instrumental in the development of Women’s Community Matters as an organisation. Her advice, support and guidance are what brought the Women’s Centre in Barrow into being. Everything from speaking to funders, with whom WomenCentre had an established relationship, to thinking about the length of the drop-in times, Clare was able to offer many years of experience. Some mistakes you need to make yourself, for all the others we had Clare! We cannot put a value on all the time we saved from having Clare to guide us…invaluable.

The WomenCentred working website and booklet have been an ongoing source of research and knowledge that has enabled us to use established ways of working in our practice. We continue to use the material available on the site when speaking with a variety of stakeholders, including the women who access our service. It helps the women accessing our Centre in that it puts a name and gives academic acknowledgement to what they see as ‘it’s lovely coming here’. They can come to understand that there are particular ways of working that are more helpful in a woman’s journey and that it isn’t because they are not clever enough, bright enough, and everything else enough to access support and services. After completing one of our courses a young woman said she now knows, ‘I am enough’. The research on the website is a way of recording this for all women and those who want to work to support women. It is an extremely valuable resource that I look forward to seeing grow.”