What we do
Alternatives Trust East London, known as Alternatives, is a women’s charity in the London Borough of Newham. It provides free mental health support to marginalised women, along with advocacy and support to address the complex needs and injustices that that impact their wellbeing and their families.
We operate as a compassionate-ecosystem, recognising that all people are capable of needing and giving support in different ways. We are proud to be largely lived-experience-led and trauma-informed by design.
Originally founded in 1994 as a Christian crisis pregnancy support project, over the years we have evolved and adapted to meet the needs of our community’s most marginalised women and their families – embracing those from all faiths and none, maintaining values of respect, inclusion and compassion.
Charitable Objectives
Our objectives were updated in 2024 to better reflect how our services have evolved to meet the changing priorities of those we work with:
- To provide good, accessible mental health, advocacy and community care for marginalised women and their families in Newham
- To address intergenerational cycles of trauma – empowering mothers to help themselves and their children to live healthier lives
- To establish routes out of destitution allowing women to progress on to living more hopeful futures
- To champion good volunteering and work opportunities for women, as employers and beyond.