Our patient, Mrs J., moved into her flat a few months ago. She fought like a lioness to get off the streets after living there for 8 years.

Our colleagues from the non-profit Transit reported her to us in 2022 when she was sleeping in the subway. After a few weeks spent in a hotel to escape the violence she suffered on the street, she entered a treatment center.

illustration - Pierre Lecrenier

When she left the hospital, she moved into her own home.

Every week, when we visit her, she welcomes us with a cup of tea or coffee in a clean and tidy home and she cooks regularly.

The arrival of the first bills was a source of great stress, but gradually she is able to pay these and to carefully manage her very tight budget.

She is now trying to better handle her alcohol consumption. Her doctor told her, quite frankly: "You've come a long way, Madam, it's good to see you like this".

She feels comfortable in her home, but her struggle is not over.

Today, she is fighting to assert her rights against an institutional system that struggles to recognise violence against women and to protect them.

Despite her background, Mrs J. seems to be unaware of her strength and value: she has a great lack of self-confidence and meetings with her are full of emotion, but also of laughter.

She dreams of stabilising in her home in order to regain custody of her daughter, to whom she writes regularly. She also dreams of going back to dancing in nightclubs.

She also loves listening to music and sings out loud with us on public transport.

We are convinced that these dreams will come true soon, because she is a force of nature. And we will always be there to help her achieve them.

--

(*) We do our utmost to respect the privacy of our patients and our professional secrecy. However, we want to testify to how they must survive and how we are working together to reintegrate them. As a result, the names of places and people are deliberately omitted or changed and real-life situations are placed in a different context. There is no direct link between the photos and the stories above.

To help people like Ms J, we need your help