Lou’s Place provides low-barrier, trauma-informed support for women in a safe and welcoming community space. Our programs are designed to respond to women’s immediate needs while supporting longer-term safety, connection, and wellbeing. Women can access support through drop-in, group programs, and case management, with services shaped by each woman’s goals and circumstances.

If you are interested in joining our programs, please contact Lou’s Place on (02) 9358 4553.

ALWAYS MUM

Always Mum supports mothers and grandmothers who have children in out-of-home care to strengthen connection with their children and work toward restoration where possible. The program provides a therapeutic, trauma-informed space where women can reflect on their experiences, reconnect with their identity as mothers, and build confidence in their relationships with their children.

Always Mum includes a 10-week therapeutic and psychoeducational group program that brings together practical, emotional, and systemic support. Through shared experience, reflective conversation, and supportive learning, women explore parenting after trauma, emotional wellbeing, grief, accountability without shame, and ways of staying connected with children in care.

Following the group, therapeutic case management is available to support women to continue working toward their goals, strengthen engagement with services, and maintain meaningful relationships with their children.

7 Weeks – My Kids & Me – Parenting Education developed by CatholicCare.

• The aim of this program is to give parents with children in OOHC an opportunity to reflect on their experiences, provide an opportunity for change, and learn strategies to strengthen their relationship with their children.

3 Weeks – Staying Safe for our Kids – Domestic & Family Violence Education.

• This component aims to provide participants with education about the signs of domestic violence, building and maintaining healthy relationships, boundaries and parenting after experiencing trauma.

-  Legal education and confidential legal advice in partnership with Women’s Legal Service NSW

-  Therapeutic case management may be accessed by mothers and grandmothers who have completed a full term of Always Mum.

CONNECTING THROUGH CHANGE

Connecting Through Change supports women who have experienced or are currently experiencing domestic and family violence through therapeutic groupwork and holistic, wraparound case management.

The 7-week Connecting Through Change group offers a safe, supportive space where women can reflect on their experiences, reconnect with their strengths, and explore what safety, healing, and healthy relationships look like for them. Through shared conversation, creative activities, and grounding practices, women explore boundaries, personal values, emotional wellbeing, and new ways of caring for themselves. The group centres connection, hope, and women’s strength, resilience, and sense of possibility.

Alongside the group, DFV case management provides individualised support, safety planning, advocacy, and connection to services. Together, these supports help reduce isolation and ensure women can access support in ways that feel safe, respectful, and at their own pace.

STABILITY FIRST

Stability First, supported by the NSW Government through the Homelessness Innovation Fund, supports women experiencing homelessness or at risk of losing their housing to access safety, stability, and connection to support. Women can access housing and homelessness support through the Lou’s Place drop-in centre without an appointment, including on-the-spot crisis stabilisation, advocacy, and practical assistance.

For women who need ongoing support, Stability First also provides flexible, trauma-informed case management. This can include help navigating housing systems, sustaining tenancies, connecting with services, attending appointments, and accessing brokerage support. The program works alongside women at their own pace, recognising that stable housing creates the foundation for safety, wellbeing, and stability.

We meet women at their point of need, working alongside them in ways that are flexible, responsive, and shaped by their goals and choices.

Accessing support or making a referral

Women can access support by dropping into Lou’s Place during opening hours, calling the centre, or emailing our team. Women are welcome to self-refer, no appointment or formal referral is required.

Services and community partners are also welcome to refer women to Lou’s Place. Referrals can be made by phone or email, or by supporting a woman to visit the centre in person. Our team will work alongside each woman to understand her needs and connect her with the most appropriate support.

All of our domestic violence education and therapeutic groups are collaborative, experiential, and encourage reflection. This provides a space for women to explore their understanding of what they might be experiencing/have experienced, but also how they can tap into their strengths, resilience, and the tools they may already use, empowering them on their journey forward. The groups also provide new adaptive strategies, in a safe and therapeutic space.