Eileen is from Cork. She and her partner had a son. About six years ago, the man with whom she was living began to abuse her verbally and emotionally, and later this escalated into full-scale physical violence. Things got progressively worse until, one night he beat her savagely.
The assault lasted an hour. The baby slept through it but when it was over, Eileen was left with a broken nose, lacerated lips, bruises and strangulation marks.
She ended the partnership the next day and left with the baby to stay with a friend. Her self-esteem was at an all-time low.
On hearing about the Cork-based Mna Feasa group, she got in touch. It changed her life, she said, and restored her self-confidence.
"The organisation had a huge impact on my life and made things better for me after a very difficult time. I'm happily married now to a wonderful guy and I have another son. I never thought, after what I had gone through, that my life could be so positive again," she said.
Mna Feasa means "wise women", and wise women is what it's all about. Ten voluntary workers give their time to the group, which is currently based in the north side of the city. It now wants to expand its operation to include the whole city and the rest of Cork county.
Funding for the organisation is scraped up from here and there but there is no steady source of revenue for this valuable body of volunteers, working in an area where there are many problems but many triumphs too: teenage pregnancies and drugs are not restricted to the area north of the Lee.
Mna Feasa works out of the Ionad na nDaoine Centre - "the people's centre". Its various support groups include one dealing with men's issues and a young women's group, both of which focus on subjects such as parenting and adult literacy. Mna Feasa runs the Domestic Violence Project which has a helpline operating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Monday, and from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays. People call with their problems and difficulties and are referred to the appropriate agencies.
Last weekend the group ran a conference on the theme of "Women in Domestic Violence", which was addressed by various experts and included discussions and workshops.
Mary O'Connell, one of the group's leading activists, says Mna Feasa was set up as the result of ever-increasing enquiries to the local Education and Rights Resource Centre at Churchfield in Cork.
She adds that the supports on offer include a confidential helpline staffed by women and an outreach programme which could provide sympathetic help to women entering hospital, attending court or dealing with gardai.
Support is also offered to women trying to leave abusive relationships. Sessions devoted to awareness-raising and public education are also available.
The group's set of principles ensure that volunteers are trained and required to work under supervision; confidentiality is assured; advice is non-judgmental but informative, and women are supported by women who have suffered abuse themselves.
This dynamic organisation has been getting things done at community level and probably has not been receiving the acknowledgement it deserves.
Underlining the group's dedication is the fact that last weekend's conference cost around £4,300 to organise - a substantial sum for a voluntary organisation to raise. The helpline (021 - 211757) receives at least a call an hour from a woman suffering physical or mental abuse.
The project began in the early 1990s when a number of women with the Cork Women's Action Group began a project on women and domestic violence. This led to the establishment of the help line and support group for abused women going through separation. This service has since been expanded, and now provides practical support for women, including information regarding welfare entitlements, lists of sympathetic doctors, legal contacts regarding enforcing accessing barring orders, and lists of counsellors.
"Members of Mna Feasa attend court with women, support them in making links with other agencies and more recently have begun to avail of the limited services of professional counselling offered on a voluntary basis," the group said. "We have also actively supported the setting up of a local working-class men's group, and intend to work parallel to this group in our public awareness and personal consciousness-raising work."
This is a rare example of how dedicated people in a local community can make things happen.
The group aims "to empower women to take back responsibility for their own lives through the quality of support and encouragement they receive and the role modelling example provided to them through their contact with the project".
Mna Feasa needs funding. It estimates it would cost £59,000 a year to put the project on a firm footing. To this end, it has submitted a funding application to the domestic violence regional planning committee of the Southern Health Board.
If the money were made available, a full-time co-ordinator could be employed and childcare as well as training services could be introduced.
On the 27th of this month, the Northside Initiative for Community Health (NICHE) in Cork city will hold a conference promoting health and wellbeing in an urban context.
This group's emphasis is a health-based one and the conference will focus on men's health, women's health and the health of teenagers and younger children.
Niche is concentrating primarily on Knocknaheeny/Hollyhill and the surrounding areas on Cork's northside, but the conference will be addressed by speakers including a Liverpool urban consultant, Mr Jon Dawson, Prof Cecily Kelleher of the department of health promotion at UCG, and Dr Joan Buckley, the acting head of the department of managing and marketing at UCC.
Between them, Mna Feasa and NICHE, working at different ends of the same spectrum, are trying to make a difference.