In my early teens I got involved with a guy who was a lot older than me and was a different religion.  After years of secretly dating I was given an ultimatum to choose between my parents or him. Of course I thought I was in love after watching all those Bollywood movies so I made my choice. “Grooming” wasn’t a known or talked about subject back then…. but in hindsight I can see this is what I was subjected to. Disowned by my family and relatives I was now seeing a whole new side to this guy, the guy who I depended on for absolutely everything and who promised me the “world”. This is where the abuse cycles started to spiral out of control now that I was pregnant. I was now isolated, trapped and completely at his mercy. Soon after, I had my son and the abuse cranked up from emotional, mental, verbal abuse and the occasional slap to full on physical abuse.  I eventually got to a point where I was in the darkest of places and almost took my own life, but then the thought of how that would impact my infant son stopped me.  After years of abuse, I finally decided I had to leave, so I made my first attempt..  

I grabbed my car keys, got in the car and drove with no destination. Shortly after, fear kicked in and I ended up back with my abuser (time and time again).  Finally, one day, following a hospital admission for my most recent beating, I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn’t recognise the reflection looking back at me. I was so black and blue. At that moment I made a lasting decision that I deserved more. I left him. That was my first real step to a whole new life but I was oh so far from where I needed to be but that initial decision was pivotal.