Our Founder’s Story

Hi, I’m Marie, founder of STORM.
And this is my story.

In your mind’s eye, I want you to picture this…

Outside McDonald’s in Streatham. Living in my car. Five children. Another one on the way. Homeless. Lost. Nowhere to go.

I had endured years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of my violent, dangerous partner. The night before, he had dangled my young daughter out of the window to show me what would happen if I dared leave him.

That was the last straw.

No matter what, I had to protect my family from this evil monster. I later found out he was also sexually abusing one of my daughters.

So, I escaped with my children, and we lived in my car. Because I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to call home.

I was on the edge of life. Unless you’ve gone through it, it’s hard to put into words. The horror never truly leaves you. And because they go beyond physical scars, emotional wounds take the longest to heal.

But eventually, they do heal. I had to empower myself. For the sake of my beautiful family, I had to reclaim myself and show them a better life.

My ex-partner was taken to court and sentenced to ten years in prison for his crimes. The presiding judge described it as the worst example of grooming he had ever seen.

But for my family and me, I couldn’t let this become our collective sentence, too. We had to move on.

So, despite my depression and living in a refuge with my kids, I sought to educate myself and empower others. Bring others out of the darkness and into the light.

I would leave affirmation notes around the house to inspire me. These filled the house – from the fridge door to my underwear drawer. You will see similar notes on the pages of this website. The words were constant reminders. Words such as “You are beautiful”, “There’s nothing you can do”, “You are more than a conqueror”.

Now, I’m a different person. I created STORM in 2004, and every day since has been about helping others in our community and beyond who find themselves in the same awful position. I don’t ever want a woman going through it to feel lost or alone.

STORM changed my life – helping others was what I was born to do.

I was blessed to be recognised with an MBE for my services to young people and survivors of domestic abuse. I’ve also had the honour of representing our community as an elected Councillor.

And I say all of this, not as some kind of boast, but to show how life can change when you find purpose. It reminds me how far I’ve come since that day I was sat in my car.

But achieving great things is not done by just one person. The community has come together, and together we have made real progress. We have helped over 5000 women and 1000 young people.

The job isn’t done. Still, too many women, children and men suffer domestic abuse, too many of our young people fall into crime and gang violence. The struggle continues, and I will never stop working to help every single soul that I can to escape fear, violence and abuse.

This is my story – and I hope that by sharing it, I inspire others to make a better life for themselves.

Marie

Marie Hanson, MBE
February 2026