WITHOUT the help of a Darlington refuge, thousands of women and children would have struggled to escape a life dominated by domestic abuse.

Some of those women took to the floor at Family Help Darlington’s recent AGM to pay tribute to the staff and supporters who have helped the organisation reach its 40th anniversary.

One ex-client, who cannot be named, became trapped in a cycle of physical and mental abuse as a teenager.

Her abusive partner was eventually jailed but with his release date approaching, she fled her home with nothing, living with her young children in a succession of refuges before arriving in Darlington.

She said: “I was in a position difficult to get out of and spent five years in a relationship which was the very definition of every type of abuse.

“I ended up weighing just five and a half stone, I was a slither of the person I used to be and clinically burned out.

“I bit the bullet and packed a bag for me and the kids, I left and I’ve never been back since.

“I told the children we were going on an adventure and we got to Darlington in 2004 where I was welcomed by a lovely team and provided with every type of support I could think of.

“I was only there for a few months, not a long time but long enough to establish again who I was.

“For a 23-year-old traumatised woman on her own 100 miles from family and everything I had known, these guys became my family.”

Twelve years after her stay, the woman in question has rebuilt her life, earned a masters’ degree, worked in psychology and is now retraining to be an ambulance technician.

She said: “I have achieved a lot for myself and my children and I’m now living in my happily ever after.

“I cannot express how much the efforts of those at the refuge make a difference to other people.

“Without them, there’s no way I’d be where I am now.”

Family Help Darlington was founded in 1976 and began in a condemned two-bedroom house in Duke Street, protected by Hell’s Angels.

Since its humble beginnings, the refuge has expanded to offer a wide range of support, including accommodation for more women and their children and a confidential helpline for anyone affected by domestic abuse.

In 2015/2016 so far, it has accommodated 38 women and 49 children and supported many more.