It has been 32 years since Chris Tuck AATQB ACMA CGMA qualified as an accountant, but she’s only just framed her certificates this year. Maybe on an unconscious level, she couldn’t quite believe what she had managed to do since achieving her AAT in 1993 and CIMA in 1998.

Because, as Tuck explains, her journey into accountancy was never about numbers – it was about survival.

“AAT has been more than a professional body to me,” she says. “It’s been the foundation of the life I’ve rebuilt.”

Everything Tuck achieved prior to her qualifications and since is a testament to her grit and resilience. Some might call it a survivor instinct.

On the face of it, the odds were stacked against her: three abusive households, abject poverty, a haphazard education that finished when she left school at 16 and a regular narrative from professionals and carers of ‘you won’t amount to anything’ or ‘you are a nobody’.

At the time, Tuck believed such criticisms.

“I grew up in an extremely deprived council estate in the 1970s and lived in three different family settings,” she recalls. “First with my parents, then my dad and stepmum, and then my mum and stepdad. All were abusive homes – physically, psychologically and sometimes sexually.

“We were always hungry. Sometimes us kids had to shoplift for food. At school, I’d often ask to go to the toilet so I could raid bins for apple cores.”

Life-changing services

Tuck now uses her accountancy skills to run Survivors of Abuse (SOB), a charity empowering adult victims and survivors of abuse through an eight-week holistic health training course. The charity and its unique course is a culmination of her own lived experience – for example, she discovered how helpful fitness was in channelling intense emotions – and her previous work with organisations around trauma and adverse childhood experiences.

SOB was established in 2016 to address the gap in service provision. Many charities offered one-to-one counselling but none adopted a holistic health model for recovery from abuse-related trauma.

The psycho-educational course, called the Breaking the Cycle C.L.E.A.N.E.R Living Therapy Programme, is “life-changing”, says Tuck. Delivered face-to-face by a trained facilitator and an accredited counsellor, the course looks at mindset, nutrition, fitness and stress management. It explores how past experiences and trauma can affect all areas of life and teaches new strategies and behaviours to help participants live more fulfilling lives.

Even when the course ends, support continues through in-person monthly peer support groups and masterclasses as well as annual meet-ups.

But as a small charity that relies entirely on donations and fundraising, finances are hard to come by. At first, Tuck was only able to run one or two courses a year. When Covid-19 hit, progress stalled. But in 2024, the charity received National Lottery funding, enabling Tuck to deliver three more eight-week courses, develop ongoing support and focus more on growth.

“I’ve set up a campaign called #DoIt4 Survivors,” says Tuck. “I want to raise £75,000 before the end of December so we can build the infrastructure and grow the charity. That’s about taking on more course trainers and facilitators so we can run the course nationwide rather than on just a local level. The more funding we receive, the more lives we can transform.”