“We Don’t Need Saving, We Need Empowering”: How MASH Is Supporting Women Across Greater Manchester
Through our guest blog series, we’re proud to spotlight the impactful work and inspiring achievements of charities and organisations that share our mission to end homelessness across Greater Manchester.
Today’s blog comes from Manchester Action on Street Health. Through our grant-making we recently supported the costs of MASH’s drop-in centre, supporting women who sex work, many of whom face housing instability and homelessness.
The guest blog below highlights the vital, life-changing support MASH provides to women across Greater Manchester, amplifying lived experience voices and showing how safe, trauma-informed spaces can empower women to rebuild their lives on their own terms.
“We don’t need saving, we need empowering.”
“Without MASH, I wouldn’t be here today. They have helped me a lot. I had nothing. I was sleeping on the road and they helped me to find somewhere to live.”
These are the words of two Greater Manchester women who MASH met and supported during the last year.
They are two of 693 women who accessed MASH’s support.
Although we are entering our 35th year, many people will never have heard of MASH. We’re a local charity, which stands by women in Greater Manchester who are involved in sex work or experiencing huge challenges like homelessness and gender-based violence.
We offer a range of specialist services which are gender-informed and trauma-informed – all aimed at improving women’s health, safety and wellbeing.
At the core of what we do are MASH’s Drop-in Centre, our sexual health clinic and our MASH Outreach Vans.
MASH helps women to feel safer, listened to and have choices open to them so they can achieve their goals.
We were grateful to the Greater Manchester Mayor’s charity for contributing £7,795 towards the running costs of our vital Drop-in service.
Michelle, who MASH has supported for a number of years and who now volunteers her expertise to MASH on our lived experience advisory panel, describes it like this.
“MASH is a place where the women can come to be safe.
It’s a place where women can build their self-esteem and give back. They can see their self-worth that their experiences have worth. They can look for jobs. They can be fed.
Having a safe space to come to when I was homeless or to get away from people that I was terrified of made a huge difference. And just to have a break from what I was doing to make money.
A whole huge part of my recovery and moving away from a lifestyle that was detrimental to my wellbeing was being able to access the MASH drop-in centre.
This is where the people at MASH gradually got to know me, got to see where I was struggling and I ended up getting nominated for Housing First and getting housed.”
Many women describe MASH as a lifeline. That might be because they’re in survival mode and MASH can meet their most basic needs like a hot meal, somewhere warm to spend a few hours and an emergency food parcel. Or it might be in a longer term way because they stepped into the MASH drop-in years ago, like Michelle, and have worked incredibly hard to heal, recover and have the opportunity to put down roots.
Last year MASH distributed 4,387 items of food and drink.
We supported 78 women into accommodation.
MASH’s services and approach have never been more needed. We hoped to witness progress in gender equality and social justice in 2025, but we’ve seen a worrying normalisation of misogynistic rhetoric online, in the media, politically and spilling into real life abuse and violence.
It is always those at the sharpest end of inequality who face the greatest harms. And often these are the people furthest away from mainstream services, such as GPs, mental health services and housing. This includes women who are surviving trauma, poverty and many women in sex work.
We continue to see this in the complexity of the barriers women at MASH face and the toll this takes on people’s health and wellbeing. Women's strength, resilience and skills as they navigate these harsh times are phenomenal.
As we look ahead to 2026 and beyond, we are concerned yet always cling onto hope.
It is crucial that MASH stays sustained, resourced and continues to listen to what women tell us they need. So that we can keep showing up effectively.
We are hugely appreciative of the MASH community, including our 100-strong volunteer team, our staff, trustees, supporters and funders like the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity.
Now more than ever it is crucial that we keep fighting so that all women can experience choice, freedom and power.
You can read more about our work in our latest impact report https://mash.org.uk/mashreport2025/
If you would like to submit a guest blog for consideration, please get in touch today.