In Rochdale, the consequences of the grooming scandals exposed two decades ago are still unfolding.

Many of the women now supported by Watering Your Soul CIC were teenagers when they were exploited. Today they are in their late thirties and forties, living with long-term trauma, substance use, insecure housing and involvement with the criminal justice system. Some had children with the men who abused them. Increasingly, those children are now vulnerable themselves.

“Many of the women I work with were touched by the grooming scandals 20 years ago,” said Lilly Lewis-Bell, founder of Watering Your Soul. “They were children themselves. Now we’re seeing the impact on the next generation, and we have to intervene earlier so it doesn’t repeat.”

Lilly’s work sits at the point where historic abuse meets present-day risk. Based largely in Rochdale and Greater Manchester, Watering Your Soul supports women experiencing domestic abuse, substance use, poor mental health and contact with the criminal justice system, many of whom have been written off by services as too chaotic or disengaged to support.

“These are the women other services roll their eyes at,” she said. “They say they won’t engage, that it’s life choices. Those are the women I work with.”

Watering Your Soul was set up in 2023 after Lilly left a charity role where she had become increasingly frustrated by how rigid systems respond to women in crisis. She said she wanted to build something different.

“I wanted to support women in the way I would have wanted to be supported ten years ago,” she said. “I took what worked and left the rest behind.”

The organisation now operates through women-only recovery groups, one-to-one support, crisis intervention and practical help. It runs a daily crisis line from 9am to 9pm, including weekends and holidays. Calls range from low-level distress to acute safeguarding situations, including suicidal ideation and risks involving multiple vulnerable women living together without staff support. In several cases, women have chosen to ring Lilly rather than contact the police or ambulance.

Alongside this, Watering Your Soul runs the only women-only recovery community in Rochdale. Sessions are co-produced and shaped by what women say they need, from creative activities to shared meals and informal peer support. Additional sessions were introduced after women described how isolation, particularly at weekends, often pulled them back towards unsafe relationships or substance use. Support is deliberately flexible. Lilly adapts her approach to reflect how institutional experiences shape behaviour.

“If someone tells me mornings are hardest because that’s when prison routines used to start, then that’s when I’ll check in,” she said. “It’s about working around people’s lives, not forcing them into a system.”

A central part of Lilly’s work focuses on women who have experienced child removal, including those who have had multiple children taken into care. Her understanding of this is personal. Her own children were removed in 2013. Her children were removed at a time when she was living with domestic abuse, addiction and significant trauma, experiences she now draws on in her work with other women.

“When a child is removed, your grief is not recognised,” she said. “You’re expected to carry on, attend contact, engage with services, but no one is there for the mother.”

Lilly later spent four years in prison, an experience that continues to shape her approach to support and prevention. While there, she studied, mentored other women and began writing about life inside the criminal justice system. One of her blogs was later picked up by the BBC and widely read, bringing her experiences to national attention and prompting conversations with women’s organisations and policymakers about trauma, rehabilitation and what actually helps women turn their lives around.

“All of the things I did for myself inside,” she said, “I now do on the outside for other women, so it stops before it gets to that point.”

Two years ago, Lilly co-chaired a year-long piece of work with Greater Manchester Combined Authority examining child removal linked to domestic abuse and trauma. Women involved were clear about what they wanted: consistent support after removal, advocacy to help them navigate relationships with professionals and foster carers, and support from people with lived experience.

“When your child is removed, it’s the same feeling as a bereavement,” she said. “You wake up without them. You’re not making lunches or doing the school run. It changes you permanently.”

That work helped inform local practice and funding decisions and reinforced Lilly’s belief that prevention must come earlier, particularly in places like Rochdale, where exploitation has had long-term and generational effects.

“The majority of women I work with were harmed as children,” she said. “Now their own children are vulnerable. We have to break that cycle.”

This work takes place against a shifting national backdrop. Last month, the UK Government launched a new strategy on violence against women and girls, committing to tougher enforcement against perpetrators and improved support for victims. The strategy acknowledges the need for early intervention and long-term change. Lilly said policy mattered, but only if it was matched by sustained, trusted support on the ground.

The organisation’s own analysis shows that early, relationship-based intervention can prevent escalation into crisis, including police involvement, emergency healthcare and children entering care. In several cases, sustained support has helped women keep babies following previous removals, move away from unsafe accommodation, or stabilise long-term patterns of offending and relapse.

Lilly received UnLtd funding and personalised support through an initial Starting Up Award and then via a Continuing Support Award - both have helped Watering Your Soul establish itself quickly.

“I struggled with imposter syndrome last year,” Lilly said. “Having someone help me think more strategically, and take myself seriously as a business leader, made a real difference.”

Asked what she is most proud of, Lilly spoke about outcomes rather than growth. A care-experienced young woman who kept her baby. Two sisters housed safely on Christmas Eve after months of homelessness. Women choosing to ring her instead of returning to violent situations or contacting emergency services.

“For me, that’s the work,” she said. “If even one woman is safer, that’s enough.”

Her message to others with lived experience who want to challenge the systems that failed them is direct.

“Drop the stigma that’s been put on you,” she said. “When people say no to me, I say ‘next option’. There’s always another way.”

In Rochdale, where the effects of exploitation are still being felt decades on, Watering Your Soul is focused on preventing harm from repeating itself, and on ensuring that the children of abused women are not left to face the same risks alone.

Read more about Lilly in this BBC article: 'The day I went to prison, I got my life back'