To the Solace Community:
Assalamu alaikum dear Brothers and Sisters,
I pray this newsletter, for the last quarter of 2024, finds you and your loved ones in good health and strong faith. Ameen.
Although the start of a Gregorian year isn’t the start of a new year for us as Muslims, living in the West, it’s very natural for us to make new intentions. One of mine is to be consistent in sending you, dearest Solace donors, volunteers and supporters, these quarterly newsletters – to show you what your support leads to for revert women.
I am pleased to announce the following developments at Solace in Q4 of 2024.
Wrapping up 2024/Heading into 2025
Departments worked extensively from October to December 2024 to ensure a smooth end-of-year transition. As the quarter concluded, each department presented its end-of-year report to the Board, aiding the process of setting strategic goals for the upcoming year, which were finalised and approved.
1-1 Support Service 💬 (for revert women globally)
- – Our 14-year-old service continues to be developed, monitored and evaluated to ensure we are providing the best 1-1 support to our services users.
- – Online face-to-face support has now been firmly established within the service and there has been an increased number of revert women receiving support where their preference is to visually engage with their support workers.
- – Monitoring and Evaluation/Processes continue to be developed which included a collation of disability statistics to better understand and cater to the needs of service users.
- – A review which led to the update of critical support team protocols, including psychotherapy, safeguarding, and immediate risk management.
- – Safeguarding refresher training was delivered across the support team.
- – An Immediate help protocol for emergency accommodation was also established.
- – As a result of an increased influx of applications for support, we have recruited a new support worker to join our team.
Financial Support Service 💷 (for revert women who are resident in the UK)
- – The financial support service continues to serve the revert community with our Finance Panel working hard; sifting through applications and documents to ascertain a service user’s eligibility for financial assistance and zakat. It is a very thorough process and one that has served the revert community almost as long as Solace has existed, providing essential rent, food and clothing support to low income families as well as debt relief.
Marriage service 💍 (currently for revert women who have accessed 1-1 support)
- – The marriage service continues to support service users who are either looking to marry/require mediation due to marital conflict through our fantastic Wali panel (1 male and 2 females) who act in the form of a surrogate father/family figure for revert women who do not have Muslim family support. A new male member joined the Wali Panel which means we can serve even more revert women who don’t have family to help them navigate the pre, in and post-marriage experience.
- – Will writing (for revert women in the UK), the Ask A Sheikh service (for revert women globally) and the What’s On services (for revert women in the UK) are still continuing – providing legal, social and Islamic support for revert women.
A list of our services and what we offer, as well as how to apply can be found here:
Events 📅
- – In Q4, a trip to Willowbrook farm and Wray Castle in our North branch were a huge success for revert women and aligned with our aim of addressing feelings of loneliness and isolation amongst reverts.
- – Holding a stall at the GPU event was a positive networking opportunity and our unique stall display was very well received.
- – A Volunteer Thank You dinner also took place in London. The feedback received showed that the volunteers appreciated the recognition of the sacrifice of their time for the Solace cause.
- – 2025 plans were finalised for all events in both London and the North and we look forward to beneficiaries experiencing meaningful, well planned and executed Solace events.
- – Join our mailing list. 📧
- – Q4 was a busy quarter that brought volunteer support to various departments. Work was also carried out to ensure volunteers continued to benefit from a unique experience at the charity.
- – Key achievements have been a newsletter highlighting the achievements of the Volunteer Department from July to September which was created and shared with volunteers. Improvements made to the volunteer application form. A one-day volunteer agreement and form for larger events was also created. Four new volunteers were recruited to assist the What’s On service. A volunteer satisfaction survey was completed and work has begun to improve volunteer engagement outside of volunteering.
Community Development and Training 📈
The Community Development department has prioritised building strategic partnerships and collaborations, developing resource packs, and enhancing Solace’s presence within prisons.
Key achievements have been the signing of 5 MOUs with key partners. Strengthened relationships with HMP prisons, facilitating talks and providing Islamic content for inmates.
Materials were developed in time to launch at GPU last October.
- – Revert in Difficulty Letter – You are not alone.
- – New Muslim Welcome Letter – The Journey Begins.
- – Leaflet – Navigating Your New Identity
- – Leaflet – Slow & Steady
- – Leaflet – Navigating Tests and Challenges
- – Leaflet – Navigating Social & Family Dynamic
A Training Manual was developed to help organisations set up a revert circle, taking into account the important nuances related to revert women and their unique lived experiences. There has been an increased demand and invitations from organisations requesting Solace to deliver a talk or workshop for reverts which increases awareness about life for reverts post-shahaadah and services at Solace that can assist them.
In the last Quarter of the year, the Institute has begun to form together, Alhamdullilah. Policies and procedures for everything needed to launch the Institute have been drafted and reviewed (Student, Speaker, Registration, Cancellation etc). Work also commenced on the Student Handbook. In December, work started towards our first course which will take place in March 2025 inshaAllah.
Alhamdulillah the quarter couldn’t have been successful without the hard work of the Solace team. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I must extend my gratitude to the hard work and beautiful cohesion of the Solace team. I ask Allah to reward them all. Ameen.
And now, a special thank you to all of our donors and supporters. Without you, we would not be able to do what we do – supporting women who have chosen to believe in the Oneness of Allah as they navigate the challenges that accompany their journeys.
For every revert women we have been able to support – we ask Allah to reward in abundance, all those who have donated, forwarded our campaigns and volunteered. Ameen.
Until the next newsletter inshaAllah, you are all in my du’a,
Aliyah Quadri (Umm Raiyaan)
Founder and CEO
Solace UK
Aliyah Quadri (Umm Raiyaan)
Founder and CEO
Solace UK
