A MALVERN woman who was shocked at the lack of local support available when she was going through the pain of divorce has set up a new group to ensure others don’t find themselves in the same situation.

When Kathleen Barclay was going through the separation process two years ago she ended up travelling to Cirencester to find a support group because there was nothing of its like closer to home.

She found the Divorce Recovery Workshop (DRW) course so helpful and inspirational that she decided to work with them to found a new branch, the first in Worcestershire, in Malvern.

At least 300,000 people in Britain go through a divorce or the breakdown of a significant relationship every year, and Miss Barclay, aged 41, feels they are often expected to “pull themselves together” and get on with things, unaided, in a matter of weeks.

“Divorce is quite a common experience, unfortunately, but while there are support groups for all sorts of experiences it didn’t seem that there was one for anything like this, and it felt like that was a real gap,” she explained.

“It was certainly a big help to me.

The whole structure of the workshops and the company of people going through the same experience made such a difference to my life, and let me move on.”

A team of experienced facilitators, who have all suffered a divorce or relationship breakdown themselves, will be leading the first DRW course in Malvern.

The first session was on Wednesday and was the first of six two-hour sessions where small groups will focus on different aspects of divorce, from acceptance of the situation through to thinking about new relationships.

To book a place, call Gill Owen on 01684 560394 or e-mail malvern@drw.org.uk.