Every parent deserves the chance to pause, catch their breath, and know they are not facing life’s challenges alone.

For families living in poverty, those moments are often the first to disappear. Financial pressures, caring responsibilities, health issues, and isolation can leave people carrying more than anyone should have to bear, with little opportunity to rest, connect with others, or simply feel like themselves.

At ATD Fourth World, our well-being activities create spaces where adults and families can find friendship, support, and belonging. They are places where people are welcomed without judgement, where confidence grows, and where everyone has something valuable to contribute.

Jasmine’s story shows just how life-changing that can be.

Jasmine’s story

Jasmine, an ATD Fourth World activist living in poverty, describes herself as someone who doesn’t give up easily.

She’s worked since she was 15. She’s raising two children with complex learning needs. Often, she’s alone to navigate school exclusions and appointments–and to advocate for her children. She’s the person who has always carried the heavy load, looked after everyone else, and found a way through.

But the onset of fibromyalgia changed everything.

Today, even an ordinary day can leave Jasmine in agony. A walk with her children, cooking dinner for family, or doing the washing up can mean that she barely has the strength to climb the four flights of stairs to their flat. She describes feeling guilty that her body no longer allows her to be the mother she wants to be: “I feel lazy”, she says, even though that “laziness” comes from waking up some mornings feeling like “someone has run my knees over with a car”.

Breaking isolation

Living with this long-term condition, alongside anxiety and depression, has left Jasmine increasingly isolated. She told us that if ATD Fourth World’s well-being activities didn’t exist, she “very often wouldn’t leave the house”.

That simple sentence captures why these spaces matter so deeply. At our well-being activities, Jasmine isn’t defined by illness, poverty, or the challenges she’s facing. She can simply arrive, sit with others, have a cup of tea, laugh, share experiences, and breathe:

“I just feel relaxed”, she says.

Many of us may take relaxation for granted. For Jasmine, it is something she rarely experiences anywhere else.

Well-being activities offer a pause from constant caring responsibilities, pain, and worry. They provide a place where parents who spend their lives supporting others can finally feel supported themselves.

Challenging stereotypes

The impact goes far beyond improving someone’s day.

Jasmine admits that when she first came to ATD Fourth World, she carried assumptions about some of the other people who might be attending.

“I was so judgemental of people when I first met them here”, she recalls. “ATD has helped me to simmer that down.”

Over time, she found herself talking with people she never imagined she would have spoken to otherwise. Listening to their experiences helped her understand that everyone carries struggles that aren’t always visible. “People’s lives are tough”, she says.

In a world where poverty is so often accompanied by judgement and stereotypes, this is transformational. ATD Fourth World creates rare spaces where people from different backgrounds, ages and cultures meet as equals. Where labels fall away. Where empathy grows naturally through conversation, shared meals, and shared experiences.

Trust and community

Jasmine’s story reminds us that these spaces don’t just challenge how society sees people living in poverty: they also help participants challenge the assumptions they may carry themselves. Community becomes stronger because people begin to truly see one another.

The relationships Jasmine has built through ATD have become an important source of strength. She speaks warmly about Susana, an ATD Fourth World community worker she now trusts deeply: “When she asks me to get involved, I can’t really say no, because it helps me, and ATD has helped me a lot”.

That trust doesn’t happen overnight. It is built over years of showing up consistently, listening without judgement and creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be themselves.

A ripple effect of resilience and generosity

Importantly, Jasmine isn’t only receiving support: she is constantly supporting others.

Whether she’s helping another parent understand local secondary schools, explaining disability transport schemes, sharing information about community resources, or pointing people towards services they didn’t know existed, Jasmine has become someone others turn to. “I’m quite good at that”, she says.

This is what makes ATD’s approach so powerful.

People are not treated as problems to be fixed. They are recognised for the knowledge, resilience and generosity they already possess. Jasmine arrived at Addington Square seven years ago looking for support: today, she has the confidence to provide it too.

That ripple effect is possible only because someone first created the space where she felt she belonged. When Jasmine talks about ATD, she doesn’t focus on activities or events. She talks about how it feels:

“It’s calming. It feels nice. I appreciate ATD so much.”

For someone living with chronic pain, caring responsibilities, and the emotional weight of feeling isolated in an unending battle against poverty, those words represent something profoundly important: a place to belong, a place to rest, and a place where people see the whole person, not just their circumstances.

Your support helps make this possible

Individual donations fund accessible well-being activities where parents can reconnect with themselves, build friendships, exchange practical support, gain confidence, and discover they are not facing life’s challenges alone.

For Jasmine, that means leaving the house when she otherwise wouldn’t, finding moments of calm in the middle of chronic pain, learning to be kinder to herself, breaking down barriers between people, and becoming part of a community where everyone has something to give.

With your support, many more people like Jasmine can find that same sense of belonging, hope and connection.

Please consider setting up a regular monthly donation today. From as little as £1 a month, you can help secure the future of ATD Fourth World’s well-being activities for families and adults experiencing poverty.

Every year, our well-being programme reaches around 50 adults and 90 children, providing opportunities to relax, build friendships, gain confidence and find support in a welcoming community. Your donation helps make these moments possible.

To give you an idea of the impact your support can have:

	Cost per participant	Total cost
Family well-being day	£16	£160
Adult well-being day	£8.50	£85
Family well-being break in Frimhurst Family House (a four-day holiday)	£95	£1,325
Adult well-being weekend  at Frimhurst Family House	£65	£650

This appeal is being sent to 2,594 people. Imagine the difference we could make if every reader chose to give just £1 each month.

Being able to say yes!

Together, we could confidently run our programme of well-being activities throughout the year without worrying about whether we have enough funding to invite every family who needs it. We wouldn’t have to make impossible choices about who can come, or stretch every penny to make activities happen.

Instead, we could focus on creating the best possible experience for everyone. We could replace the sandwiches that get soggy during the two-hour-long hot van ride by instead treating the group to fresh fish and chips enjoyed by the seaside. We could say “yes” to every family who needs a break, rather than wondering whether we can afford one more place.

Your monthly gift, however small, could help make this possible — not just once, but throughout the year.

Please consider becoming a regular supporter today and help ensure that everyone who needs our well-being programme has the opportunity to take part.