When you are or have experienced domestic abuse, the path to healing can feel overwhelming, uncertain, and sometimes painfully slow. Reclaiming your sense of self, your peace, and your dreams doesn’t happen overnight—but there are small, meaningful steps you can take that gently support that journey. One beautiful and empowering activity is creating a vision board.
You might be wondering, “What exactly is a vision board?” Put simply, it’s a visual representation of your goals, dreams, or feelings using images, words, and symbols. It’s a creative tool that helps you clarify what you want in life and acts as a gentle, daily reminder of your hopes for the future.
Whether you’re just beginning to find your footing again, or further along your healing journey, a vision board can be a source of calm, inspiration, and even joy. Most importantly, it offers something that may have felt out of reach: permission to dream again.
Why a Vision Board?
After experiencing abuse, it’s common to feel disconnected from your identity, unsure of your future, or hesitant to think too far ahead. A vision board can help rebuild that bridge between where you are now and where you’d love to be. Here are just a few reasons why this activity can be especially powerful:
- Mindfulness and relaxation: The process of choosing images, cutting, arranging, and sticking them can be surprisingly soothing. It’s a form of mindfulness, keeping your attention in the present moment.
- Emotional release: You don’t need to explain your feelings in words—your choices of images and colours can express what your heart might struggle to say aloud.
- Building self-worth: Creating a board centred on your desires, your needs, and your joy is an act of self-love.
- Visualising the future: Seeing your hopes laid out visually can help make them feel more tangible and achievable.
What You’ll Need
You don’t need anything fancy to get started. Here’s a basic list:
- A piece of card, scrapbook, or even a large piece of paper
- Magazines, newspapers, leaflets, or printouts from the internet
- Scissors and glue
- Pens, markers, stickers—whatever you like for decoration
- A quiet space and a cup of tea never go amiss!
If you prefer digital tools, there are free apps and websites that let you create vision boards online—perfect if you’re not keen on cutting and sticking or if you want to keep it private.
How to Create Your Vision Board
- Take a moment to reflect
Before you begin, take a few deep breaths. Ask yourself gently: What do I need right now? What brings me peace, joy, or strength? What kind of life do I want to build for myself? This isn’t about pressure or perfection—it’s about listening to your inner voice.
- Start collecting
Flick through magazines or browse online for images and words that resonate with you. Don’t overthink it. If something catches your eye or makes you feel hopeful, calm, or excited, set it aside. It might be a picture of nature, a powerful quote, a soft colour, or a photo of somewhere you’d love to visit.
- Arrange and stick
Once you have a collection, start arranging them on your board. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Let your intuition guide you—whether that’s placing calming images in one area or grouping your dreams and goals together.
- Add personal touches
Write words of encouragement. Add your name. Draw or doodle. Let this be a celebration of you—the strong, resilient, and brave woman you are. And you are! Even if you don’t feel it now, you really are. And doing activities like this, and asking Juno for help if you need us, will help you feel stronger too.
- Display it where it feels right
Place your vision board somewhere you’ll see it regularly—by your bedside, in a journal, or saved as a phone wallpaper if you’ve made it digitally. Let it serve as a quiet reminder of everything you are working toward and everything you deserve.
A Space to Dream
It can be hard to give yourself permission to dream again, especially if you’ve spent years being told you couldn’t or shouldn’t. But every single person has the right to imagine a better future—and you do too. And you deserve that better future. We at Juno believe that, even if you don’t. We have helped many women and girls, just like you, to move on to living their dream.
Okay, it may not be a house the size of a mansion or a top dollar job, but it can be a safe place where you are free to live your life and feel peace and happiness. And remember: a vision board is not about having all the answers or knowing exactly how things will unfold. It’s about allowing yourself to hope.
Final Thoughts
As you look at your vision board in the days and weeks to come, try to focus on how it makes you feel. Let it ground you, calm you, uplift you. Even if it’s just for a few moments each day, let those images remind you that healing is happening.
Slowly, gently, you are building a new life—one where you are in control.
And that is a beautiful, powerful thing.
Juno Help
If you ever need someone to talk to or simply a bit of guidance, please remember that our helpline is just a phone call or email away. Our dedicated team of trustworthy, compassionate women – many of whom have their own experiences as survivors – offer a completely confidential service without any judgement.
We’re here to help and support you every step of the way. You can read about the helpline team here.
Calls to our helpline are free from landlines and mobile phones within the UK and do not appear on itemised bills. There is no pressure and everything is confidential.
Helpline: 0808 800 0340
Sometimes our helpline is busy and you might not get through the first time, so please try again. We will always call you back if you leave a message stating it is safe to do so and if you leave us a safe contact number in your message.
If you are hearing impaired, text “Relay/NGT” to 18001 0808 800 0340. This option is available 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.
You can also email us on [email protected] 9 am – 9 pm.
Please note, we may not be able to respond to emails straight away, but will try to reply within 24 hours.
National Help
If you’re further afield, you could contact other charities like Women’s Aid, who have instant messaging and email contact on their website: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0808 2000 247) also provide confidential support. They can help you make a safety plan, find safe housing, and access legal protections.
The deaf health charity Signhealth also runs a domestic abuse support service, DeafHope, using British Sign Language (BSL).
The Survivor’s Trust (for sexual abuse and assault support) – www.thesurvivorstrust.org