What Chayn is#
Chayn, pronounced "ch-en", takes its name from the Urdu word for solace. Hera Hussain started it in 2013 after helping two friends, one in the UK and one in Pakistan, leave abusive marriages and finding how hard it was to get basic information about their rights. It began as a volunteer project, became a social enterprise in 2019 and is now a registered charity, with a team spread around the world, many of them survivors. It works across all forms of gender-based violence, with a focus on domestic and sexual abuse and abuse carried out through technology.
What it offers, and what it does not#
Everything Chayn makes is free and online. The main pieces are:
- Bloom, a free and anonymous healing service with self-paced video courses, exercises and one-to-one messaging, in English, Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese and German;
- guides, such as "How to build a domestic abuse case without a lawyer", on collecting and presenting evidence, in English, Portuguese, Arabic, Urdu and Italian;
- a global directory of support services, with entries for England, London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Chayn is clear that it does not offer crisis support. If you are in danger, it says to call the emergency services if it is safe to do so, and its directory is there to point you to services that can act. Every page has a "Leave this site" button.
The online safety guide#
Chayn's DIY Online Safety guide, written with survivors and last updated in February 2026, is its most practical piece for anyone starting again under a new name. Among its steps:
- switch off location sharing in apps such as Find My, Google location sharing and Snap Map, and check which apps can see your location;
- leave Apple, Google and Amazon accounts you share with someone else, set up new private ones with strong passwords, and turn on two-factor authentication;
- reset or unlink smart doorbells, speakers and car apps that someone else set up;
- keep identifying details in profiles to a minimum, and use separate accounts for different parts of your life;
- make a tech safety plan before changing shared logins, because the guide warns that some abusers escalate when their access is cut off.
It describes doxing as someone publishing your full name, address, phone number or workplace without your consent, and explains how to document it and report it.
Applying it to a change of name#
A deed poll you make yourself is not published, so the risk sits in the accounts you update afterwards. Each one you rename becomes a record of the new name, and a shared or monitored account would pass it straight on. Chayn's advice suggests an order: secure or replace your accounts first, then put the new name on the private ones. The same caution about timing applies. Enrolling a deed poll is different: GOV.UK says it leads to a Gazette notice naming you and giving your address.
More on accounts and privacy#
- Changing your name on Facebook, PayPal, Amazon and other accounts: what each one asks for.
- Keeping your address off your records: the electoral register and more.
- Can someone find out my new name?: what becomes public.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Chayn publishes on its website, read on 26 October 2026. Chayn has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
