Our founder’s story
Growing up in a home impacted by domestic and family violence and facing bullying at school, I entered my teen years navigating more than a decade of profound mental health challenges, including over 500 documented hospitalisations (equalling more than half of my adolescence and young adulthood in hospital). My journey has been marked by extreme physical and emotional survival, from being crushed by two buses to enduring abusive relationships and the systemic failures of our healthcare, community, justice and NDIS sectors.
The catalyst for change arrived in 2024. Engaging in truly trauma-informed care, I finally began to receive the support I needed and deserved. This then led to having a once a month role as a volunteer peer worker, then moved to managing survivor healing groups nationwide to assisting organising gender-based violence rallies for over 5,000 attendees. In September 2025, I made the decision to use my own Victim Recognition payment to officially found Beacon of Hope Project. On October 1st 2025 we were registered as an official association in NSW. What began as a personal mission has grown into a dedicated team of 15 plus Volunteers who have supported over 200 community members through BOHP Inclusive Markets, empowerment events, and peer-led workshops in less than 1 year. I am incredibly proud that we have created a space where women from all walks of life can find dignity and purpose and help create change, this is both for attendees, participants and members of the organisation.
My journey taught me that recovery is built on four core pillars:
- Trauma-Informed Support
- Person-Centred Care
- The Power of Lived Experience
- Tailored and Dedicated Advocacy
We embed these pillars into every practice and service we provide, creating opportunities for other women to have the same opportunity for healing and change that I have been lucky enough to find.
I am a lucky one, after more than a decade I was granted the support I required and now get to live a life of purpose, hope and meaning. If one thing we can do at Beacon of Hope Project is to use our lived experience to ensure even one other woman doesn’t have to go through what I have then it is all worth it.
How we started
Founded and driven entirely by lived experience, Beacon of Hope Project (BOHP) is a movement born from resilience. Founder Samantha Bruce established the organisation in October 2025 with her victim service recognition payment to build a platform where healing leads to systemic change. A group of like minded women supported this mission and it became an association. Lived experience drives everything we do to ensure we are rooted in empathy and real-world understanding. With the knowledge of lived experience we are breaking down barriers, creating safe spaces and showing hope is real.
What we have achieved
In less than a year we have provided over 40 women a space in peer support and social groups, had over 100 vendors at 5 inclusive market events with roughly 1 in 3 identifying as a person with a disability, and provided over 60 hours of one on one pro bono women’s focused advocacy support, providing women the resources to access things directly improving their access to justice, health and/or safety.
What is peer-led support
Peer-led support means the people delivering support have lived through similar experiences themselves, not just professionals trained in theory, but people who’ve walked the path and come out the other side. At Beacon of Hope Project, this looks like peer workers and lived-experience volunteers sitting alongside the people we support, not above them. Using the knowledge of lived experience to create innovative initiatives improving justice, health and inclusion.
Why peer-led support
Lived experience builds trust faster than credentials do. People are more willing to open up to someone who’s actually been there, because there’s no gap to bridge, the peer already understands what it’s like without needing it explained. It also breaks the isolation that often comes with hardship: seeing someone who has recovered, rebuilt, or come through the other side is proof that change is possible, not just a promise from a service provider. And peer-led models tend to reduce shame, because support is offered as “with you” rather than “done to you,” which keeps people engaged for longer and improves outcomes.
As a peer-led organisation, this isn’t an add-on to our service, it’s the foundation of it.
Want to know more, join a program, or get involved? Get in touch — we would love to hear from you!