U-Turn was set up in February 2004, offering innovative support, information and practical intervention to women coerced into prostitution.

The U Turn staff and trustees have always been committed to setting up a Centre for vulnerable women. This has now been realised and made possible via funding from a variety of sources including The Deputy Prime Ministers Office.

U-Turn will open its first Women's Centre in June 2006. It will provide a safe, fully staffed building for the women to address health, social and housing needs as well as suggest pragmatic routes out of their cycles of abuse and poverty. The centre will offer women the opportunities to improve the quality of their lives and sustain those improvements so they can move onto independent living.

We will be hosting a fundraising party to mark the opening of the Centre, likely to be in mid September. The date will be confirmed nearer the time.

Director and the Trustees

Director:
Rio Vella

Rio has 14 years’ experience of working with marginalised women. She has advised government and non-governmental organisations on issues concerning sex workers, education, violence, and drug rehabilitation.

She has identified gaps in current services and has set up the U-Turn Project to provide the necessary services to vulnerable women who are otherwise excluded.

Using her experience, Rio has developed a new way of working with the women to identify their existing skills gained from surviving life on the street. The women are encouraged to recognise that these skills are transferable, and can be used in making constructive changes in their lives. This is the core work of U-Turn.

Trustees:
Jan Woroniecki (Chairman), Reverend Brian Ralph, Alice Sielle,
Simon James Collier


Patron:
Nick Broomfield

With thanks to:
Propeller Communications, Jan Woroniecki, Ania Dabrowska