about new dawn new day

We believe that all women have the right to reach their potential and to live their lives free from violence and abuse. 

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We are passionate about what we do. 
We know it makes a difference.

Through our work we know that women affected subjected to trauma, violence and abuse have the potential to transform their lives. We support them by providing a safe environment and high quality, gender-responsive, trauma-informed support.

New Dawn New Day has worked to support the wellbeing of women and girls in Leicester and Leicestershire for over 30 years, starting out as a community-based women’s centre in the 1980s. Now we specialise in supporting women involved with the Criminal Justice System, delivering a range of practical and emotional support designed to meet the multiple and complex needs of women referred into our service.

Our Approach

Our approach to working with women is holistic and trauma informed. Women’s lives are complicated…

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Our Staff

Our dedicated staff team are passionate about supporting women, providing the best possible outcomes for each woman referred into our service…

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Our Impact

New Dawn New Day is a small charity that delivers a big impact. With our help many women have…

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Our Trustees

New Dawn New Day Limited is a Charitable Company. Its Trustees are both Trustees of the Charity and Directors of the Company and they oversee the work of the organisation…

read more…

Your donations make a huge difference…

New Dawn New Day relies on the generosity of our funders and donors. Without your support we would not be able to deliver our vital and life-changing work with women and girls.

help make a difference

our approach

Our approach to working with women is holistic, non judgmental and trauma informed. We use an approach which works with the whole person, not just one issue or problem. Our way of working is both holistic and psychologically informed and balances support and empathy with boundary setting, challenging and pro-social modelling.

The women we work with typically present with 4 or more of the following needs.

Struggles with mental & physical health
Issues around education & employability
Difficulties with housing & homelessness
Risk of sexual exploitation
Drug & alcohol related challenges
Complicated relationships
Cases of crime & Antisocial Behaviour
Troubles with poverty & debt
Enduring domestic abuse
Worries around parenting skills & capacity

We support women to access other specialist services and help to coordinate this support around the woman. It is a distinct way of working that is both holistic and psychologically informed, balancing support and empathy with boundary setting, challenging and pro-social modelling.

our staff

Our dedicated staff team are passionate about supporting women, providing the best possible outcomes for each woman referred into our service.

Our staff team is diverse in terms of age, ethnicity and professional background. Many of our team have their own lived experience of trauma, violence or abuse, resulting in a deeper level of understanding between Practitioner and client.

Our entire organisation adopts our Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Responsive approach, not only with our clients but with each other too. 

Sara Swire

CEO

Lisa Hughes-Mawby

COO

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Sara Swire

CEO

Sara Swire is the CEO of New Dawn New Day and has over 25 years of experience in leading organisational practice and development.

She was instrumental in the development of Trauma-Informed practice at New Dawn New Day, is a passionate advocate for the approach and has trained organisations in trauma theory and practice development.

Sara has a degree in Psychology and has undertaken advanced training in coaching and organisational development from a psychologically informed perspective. She has a particular interest in the impact of working with trauma on organisation culture and staff wellbeing.

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Lisa Hughes-Mawby

COO

Lisa Hughes-Mawby is the Chief Operating Officer at New Dawn New Day and has worked in the field for 16 years.

Lisa’s background is in community development, and for the last 12 years she has worked to develop the Just Women Project, New Dawn New Day’s specialist service for women in contact with the Criminal Justice System.

Lisa has a wealth of knowledge in working with women who have experienced complex trauma, not only as a manager but also as a practitioner. She was also instrumental in the development of Trauma-Informed practice at New Dawn New Day and has developed a range of psychoeducational interventions and programmes designed to help women to recognise and respond to the impact of trauma.

Lisa oversees the delivery of New Dawn New Day’s client services across multiple projects.

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★★★★★

“When you walk into the centre it feels like a huge hug. The energy & atmosphere are so lovely, even talking on the phone to staff. It’s a safe space & I can drop my walls”

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★★★★★

“Since talking to you guys, I have received non-judgmental support and I didn’t have this before. I had felt that no one cared before coming to NDND but I now feel heard and understood”

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★★★★★

“My worker has made me feel positive about myself and my future. My worker has opened my eyes to different thoughts and possibilities”

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our impact

New Dawn New Day is a small charity that delivers a big impact. With our help, over 230 women per year have turned their lives around and created a brighter future for themselves and their families.

New Dawn New Day is committed to ensuring that:

Our support and interventions are having a positive impact on the women we work with
We stay true to our organisational mission
We deliver effective outcomes for our clients, service funders and the wider community
We are transparent and accountable
We can provide evidence of our ability to achieve outcomes

To ensure the above, it is important that we can measure and demonstrate the changes women make as a result of our support and interventions.

To demonstrate that we are achieving our aims, we have in place a system for recording change for each woman who uses our services. To this end we have devised a simple system of measuring change along a number of pathways, to demonstrate distance travelled in terms of areas such as health and wellbeing, social and economic circumstances, criminogenic needs and safety.

Opposite is a list of needs and strengths women may present with when accessing support at New Dawn New Day.

Below is a list of needs and strengths women may present with when accessing support at New Dawn New Day.

Most of the needs relate to the recognised offending pathways. This means that if a woman presents with a combination of these needs, she is more likely to end up in the criminal justice system or re-offend.

Similarly, if a woman who presents with these needs demonstrates that she is making progress in those areas, her likelihood of becoming reinvolved with the criminal justice system reduces.

The pathways are also suitable for measuring positive impact and change for women who are not at risk of offending, but have complex needs and are vulnerable to harm and exploitation.

the reality

It is our belief that the actual figures may be far higher, due to the stigma and potential shame associated with speaking about these experiences.

Many of the women we work with have never told anyone about their experiences of trauma and abuse, some go most of their lives without understanding that past traumatic experiences have significantly negatively impacted them.

Many of the women we work with present with diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health conditions relating to the trauma they have experienced.

Often, we find that the women we work with have difficulty accessing mainstream mental health services, with many slipping through the cracks and never receiving the vital mental health support they desperately need.

Of the women in this period, 60% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

This includes Depression, Anxiety, Personality disorder, including Dissociative Identify Disorder and Borderline (emotionally unstable) Personality Disorder, PTSD, eating disorders, ADHD, Agoraphobia, Bipolar disorder and Psychosis.

The team have noticed an increase in referrals which mention a diagnosis of Personality Disorder.

It is notable that many traits of these types of disorders can be interpreted as normal responses to experiencing trauma.

Below is a list of needs and strengths women may present with when accessing support at New Dawn New Day.

Most of the needs relate to the recognised offending pathways. This means that if a woman presents with a combination of these needs, she is more likely to end up in the criminal justice system or re-offend.

Similarly, if a woman who presents with these needs demonstrates that she is making progress in those areas, her likelihood of becoming reinvolved with the criminal justice system reduces.

The pathways are also suitable for measuring positive impact and change for women who are not at risk of offending, but have complex needs are vulnerable to harm and exploitation.

Of the women who accessed our service between 2023-24

%
Demonstrate a significant need for emotional well-being support
%
Present with a mental health concern
%
Present with a minimum of two areas of need requiring support
%
Have a risk to their personal or child’s saftey
%
Require support for their physical health
%
Present a moderate to high level of need concerning relationships
%
Present a moderate to high level of need concerning accommodation
%
Present a moderate to high level of need concerning substance use
%
Have social care involvement
%
Are experiencing homelessness due to domestic violence
Find out how you can help us, help them

Our 2024-2025 Impact Report is coming soon! However our 2021-2022 Impact Report is available to download here. 

We are proud to showcase our dedication to supporting women affected by trauma, violence and abuse. New Dawn New Day offers a range of projects which respond to the multiple complex needs of women referred into our service.

Our Impact Report highlights our charity’s positive impact, explains the benefits of our Trauma-informed and responsive approach and most importantly, amplifies the voices of the women we support.

We asked a sample of women we were working with, or had recently finished working with, to share their experiences before, during and after receiving support from New Dawn New Day. All quotes used throughout our Impact Report are taken directly from this client survey. 

our trustees

New Dawn New Day Limited is a Charitable Company. This means it is a Company Limited by Guarantee as well as a registered Charity.

Its Trustees are both Trustees of the Charity and Directors of the Company and they oversee the work of the organisation. Being a charity trustee and company director is an important role. Trustees are individually and collectively responsible for the running and management of the organisation.

To view our new trustee opportunitues, click here.

Peter Jones

Trustee

Roohi Mehra

Chair

Roshni Lad

Trustee

Tom Gill

Trustee

Peter jones

Trustee

Peter Jones’ career has been focused in the public sector, at a strategic and operational level in both local and national government.

Latterly Peter has operated as a senior manager, working alongside public and private sector partners, utilising public funding to unlock the delivery of affordable housing and de-risk uncommercial, but strategically important housing and community-based projects.

He has a wide understanding of public sector governance and decision making. He was drawn to the role of Trustee as a way to utilise some of the skills and expertise he has gathered in supporting the vital services provided by New Dawn New Day.

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Roohi Mehra

Chair

Roohi Mehra brings a wealth of leadership and governance experience to New Dawn New Day. A registered pharmacist since 2009, she has worked across NHS hospital, community, and academic settings.

Roohi has also served as an Officer in the Royal Navy Reserves and as a Ministry of Defence civil servant, leading tri-Service pharmacy training. She was previously CEO of Warwick Students’ Union and an Independent Governor at the University of Derby.

Passionate about gender equality, Roohi is dedicated to empowering women and driving positive change. Her expertise in strategy, governance, and public service ensures strong leadership for the charity.

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Roshni Lad

Trustee

Roshni Lad Currently, Roshni works for the College of Policing as a Financial Analysis and Modelling Specialist, prior to that, she was an Accounting Supervisor at Sainsbury’s.

Roshni has experience in private and public sector finance taking on a range of responsibilities such as budgeting and forecasting; management accounting; producing monthly reports and improving financial processes.

Having worked with charities in the past, Roshni appreciates the reward in seeing the work that goes into helping people gain a better life, and loves to contribute to her community the best way she can – with numbers!

“New Dawn New Day aim to provide a better future for women in Leicestershire by supporting them to reach their potential and I’m excited to be a part of their journey”. 

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tom gill

Trustee

Tom Gill is an IT professional, now semi-retired after a varied career living and working in 5 countries, including several years as the Asia Chief Information Officer for a global insurance broker, where he built a cohesive and efficient Pan Asian IT organisation spanning thirteen countries.

Tom has considerable experience in providing strategic guidance on harnessing technology to deliver efficiencies, process change and improved customer experiences, and is adept at analysing and mapping business processes and workflows to enable better digital interaction and engagement with customers, staff and suppliers.

Tom has previously provided support to local charities and SME companies with limited IT budgets and has a particular interest in cyber security, having helped several companies to gain Cyber Essentials certification.

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Your donations make a huge difference…

New Dawn New Day relies on the generosity of our funders and donors. Without your support we would not be able to deliver our vital and life-changing work with women and girls.

help make a difference

Current Opportunity – New Trustees

New Dawn New Day is seeking passionate and skilled individuals to join our Board of Trustees and help shape the future of our vital work supporting women in contact with the criminal justice system.

We are particularly looking for people committed to trauma-informed practice and those with experience in our sector, including criminal justice, social care, or women’s services. Expertise in governance, finance, legal, HR, or fundraising is also valuable. As a trustee, you will provide strategic oversight, ensure strong governance, and champion our mission. If you want to use your skills to make a real difference, we would love to hear from you.

At New Dawn New Day Ltd, our Trustees’ role is very much one of “governance” in that they are not directly involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation. They do, however, need to ensure the organisation is governed effectively. Put simply, this means we need to ensure the organisation operates within the law (including charity and company law), and that we fulfil any contractual and statutory obligations the organisation has including funding contracts.

The Trustees also have responsibility for agreeing the strategic direction of the organisation, namely a shared idea about what difference the organisation wants to make in the community and what its main areas of work for the future are.

Some Trustees who have a particular interest or expertise in some of the projects and services delivered may want to take a direct advisory and support role for that area of work and we find this to be very useful. However, there is no expectation for a Trustee to be involved outside their main role on the Board.

download the Candidate Pack

For further details, please download the Candidate Pack containing comprehensive information about the role, responsibilities, and application process 

apply for this vacancy

To apply for this vacancy, please provide a brief CV, a covering letter (max 2 sides) showing your suitability for the role, and details of two professional referees and email to admin@ndnd.org.uk

Trustees of a Charity have the following general collective duties:

To ensure that the organisation promotes its charitable objects and complies with its governing instruments and with relevant law and regulations
To give strategic direction to the charity, setting overall policy, defining goals and targets, and evaluating performance against these
To ensure that the charity is run effectively and efficiently and applies its resources exclusively in furtherance of its objects
To ensure financial stability, good management and stewardship of property, competent investment of funds and proper accounting
To support the Chief Executive and monitor her performance
general enquiries

For general enquiries about current vacancies, please email admin@ndnd.org.uk or call 03333 444 304

We are looking for Trustees to help take New Dawn New Day Ltd into the next phase of its development.

We need Trustees who are positive and committed to the principle of developing services for women and girls who feel they can help us develop and oversee the implementation of our strategic plan.

It is important that Trustees act with integrity and commitment, and with an understanding of the responsibilities of charity trusteeship. Trustees are required to attend as many meetings as possible and to undertake some tasks between meetings. Trustees should have strategic vision, good independent judgement, the ability to think creatively, a willingness to speak their minds, and ability to work effectively as a member of a team.

We welcome expressions of applications from anyone who can bring some of the above characteristics, including candidates where there is currently under-representation such as those of black/minority ethnic origin. New members will be receive induction training supported from the Chair and other committee members.

Becoming a Director / Trustee will not only give you the chance to be a part of the development of the organisation, it will give you experience of governance and operating at a strategic level. It will also enable you to make a real difference to the lives of women and girls.

Please contact us for further information

In particular we are looking to recruit Trustees who have skills and experience in the following:
Sector Specific Knowledge
Fundraising & Finance
Human Resources
Equality and Diversity

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latest news & events

Explore our latest news, information about events and useful information in our New Dawn New Day Blog.

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