About

STORM Family Centre is a Domestic Violence charity that also has a focus on Youth Work and general wellbeing; the acronym S.T.O.R.M stands for: Support, Trust, Opportunity, Rebuilding and Motivation. Founded by Marie Hanson MBE in 2004, the vision was, and remains, to help people in need of support; S.T.O.R.M is committed to addressing social issues such as sexual violence, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, poverty, long-term unemployment, and youth crime.

The charity works hard to provide empowerment and opportunities for people to gain education and build confidence and has an open-door policy for our service users which we know helps as it breaks down barriers.

S.T.O.R.M Family Centre has continued providing valuable core services to residents within Wandsworth and the surrounding London boroughs. The organisation has grown from strength to strength and continues to expand its services to meet the needs of the people accessing its services.

Marie Hanson MBE, UPF Ambassador for Peace, is the founder and CEO of the charity STORM Family Centre. A former conservative councillor for the ward of Queenstown in Battersea, Wandsworth, she also does public speaking alongside her community and charity work.

Marie is a survivor of domestic violence herself. After fleeing her abusive partner with five children and also heavily pregnant with her sixth, she spent several nights sleeping in her car with all her children. Painfully, even after her and her family suffering all the trauma and impacts of violence, one of her daughters told her that they also tragically suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the abuser. Through all the indescribable pain that she and her family endured, she maintained that her sufferings would not define her.

After escaping with her family, she decided to pursue a career in cosmetics for the new start for her and her family; she eventually created her own make-up line and was offered a very lucrative job in America in the cosmetics industry. After careful consideration though, she turned it down to start a new role that she truly believes was heaven sent, and STORM Family Centre was established. The subject of surviving and overcoming is something that Marie has made part of her life’s work.

Since she formed STORM, Marie through her charity continues to tirelessly work for those who have suffered and survived domestic violence and abuse, as well as being there for many in the community in need of employment help, childcare services, career & training courses, and extensive youth work.

STORM also has its own nursery complete with sensory room to cater for Special Educational Needs children and for children who have suffered trauma and abuse.

See Marie’s testimonial on TEDx Wandsworth here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWk-rKRTCs

We are so very honoured and humbled to have Sabrina Elba as our Patron, and actors Will Poulter and Chukwudi Iwuji as our ambassadors; their tireless work is beyond value and warmly embraced.

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