Our story so far
Karma Nirvana was founded by Dr Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, after she escaped a forced marriage at 15 and tragically lost her sister to Honour Based Abuse.
In 1993, Karma Nirvana became the first specialist charity for victims and survivors of Honour Based Abuse in the UK.
Since then, we have led the campaign against Honour Based Abuse – supporting, empowering and educating those impacted, so they can live a life free of abuse.
We run the national Honour Based Abuse Helpline, producing data on Honour Based Abuse, we train frontline practitioners and professionals, and we campaign for change, working with parliamentarians and policy-makers.
Read more about how we can help today
Our vision
Our aim, to end Honour Based Abuse, is ambitious – but it is not impossible.
Despite decades of striving to raise awareness and understanding, Honour Based Abuse is still not understood and is not recognised as a form of domestic abuse. There is little accurate data on its extent or its impact. Its true scale, scope and prevalence are unknown, so it remains a thriving but invisible problem. Meanwhile, shame and stigma prevent victims from speaking out and seeking help.
Our organisational strategy is a direct response to this problem.
We know that before we can reach our ultimate goal, we must strengthen collective understanding of what Honour Based Abuse is and the devastating impact it can have.
Our values
Our values shape everything we stand for and believe in.
- Together: We work together as one team, showing care, empathy and respect along the way, united by our shared vision. Together we are stronger.
- Human: We take a survivor-centred approach when responding to Honour Based Abuse, placing those we serve at the heart of everything we do.
- Experienced: We have nearly three decades of experience in supporting victims and survivors of Honour Based Abuse. We are survivor-led and listen to those with lived experience to successfully campaign, train and advocate.
- Compassionate: We provide compassionate support, care and understanding to all those accessing our services. We listen and are non-judgemental. We do our best for all of those who use our services.
- Bringing about change: We find approaches and solutions to ‘close the gaps’ that exist for victims and survivors of Honour Based Abuse, rather than just responding to the symptoms of them.
- Outcome focused: We focus on the end goal in every situation. Whether speaking to service users, opinion leaders or within our team – we focus on the best outcomes to support the best possible solutions.
Interested in joining our team?
