Who Jewish Women's Aid supports#
Jewish Women's Aid offers a confidential service that is sensitive to Jewish life, for women and girls from the age of 14 who have lived through domestic abuse or sexual violence. It works across the religious spectrum, from secular to Charedi, and its referral criteria include trans women. Its domestic abuse service gives short and long-term practical and emotional help; a separate sexual violence service supports women aged 16 and over; and its counsellors offer 16 weekly sessions, which can be extended. Qualified therapists, including play and art therapists, work with children aged 4 to 18 who have lived with domestic abuse.
How to reach it#
The immediate help page sets out three routes, all free and confidential:
- the helpline, open Monday to Thursday from morning until late evening, with voicemail outside those hours; it closes on Jewish festivals;
- webchat, for two hours on four weekdays;
- email, which goes straight to the specialist support team.
Professionals can refer through an online form. Young Jewish women aged 14 to 24 who live, work or study in London can use the couRAGEus project for advocacy and counselling, and JWA says it will still try to help young women outside London who call. If you need emergency accommodation and cannot reach JWA, it points you to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline. Its pages have a quick exit button.
What its domestic abuse service covers#
JWA's support service lists risk reduction and safety planning, welfare benefits advice, help finding safe housing, guidance on civil and criminal legal options, support in family court, and support in obtaining a Get. Grants can sometimes help with furniture, computers and deposits for a new tenancy.
Its page on Get refusal explains that a Get is the Jewish document of divorce, usually arranged through a Beth Din after the civil divorce, and that a woman whose husband refuses it is known as an agunah. JWA treats Get refusal as a form of abuse and liaises with the Jewish courts for its clients.
Your surname and the civil divorce#
The religious and civil processes are separate, and so are their effects on your name. GOV.UK says that after a divorce you may be able to go back to your original surname by showing organisations your marriage certificate and your decree absolute or final order, though some will want a deed poll. Neither route needs a Get, or your former husband's agreement. A deed poll is a promise you make alone, and GOV.UK gives the words for one at no cost.
If you are separated and the civil divorce is not finished, you do not have to wait for the final order. HM Passport Office has its own evidence route for returning to a birth surname, and a deed poll works at any stage; our page on changing your name while separated sets out both.
More on names after a marriage ends#
- Going back to your maiden name after divorce: what organisations accept.
- Changing your name after domestic abuse: your own name, and your children's.
- Changing your name after divorce, dissolution or separation.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Jewish Women's Aid publishes on its website, read on 26 October 2026. Jewish Women's Aid has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
