Carlow woman recognised by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland for raising awareness of sexual abuse

Carlow woman, Destiny Ayo Vaughan, is founder of charity organisation Mind The Gap Ireland. 

Mind The Gap aims to raise awareness, reduce stigma and eliminate the harmful effects of sexual abuse. 

Destiny was named as one of 'Ireland’s rising stars: the 50 ones to watch in 2023' by The Irish Independent.

She is also one of the graduates of the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) Ideas Academy who were recognised at a special event in Dublin last week. The programme supports upcoming entrepreneurs who have an idea to solve a social problem, to move from idea to action. The 2023 graduate Destiny is tackling one of Ireland's most pressing social issues: sexual abuse. Destiny is working to create a safe space where survivors and victims of sexual abuse can share their stories and find the help they need.

According to a Women's Aid report from 2021, there were 213,206 visits to Women's Aid due to incidents of domestic violence and abuse in that year. Mind the Gap Ireland is the host of the country’s first online anonymous survivor platform.  

Over the past three months (July-September), Destiny and other participants have received training, consultancy and peer mentoring to refine and progress their solution and build core social entrepreneurial skills.

Commenting, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Tim Griffiths said: "The Ideas Academy is a unique opportunity for social entrepreneurs to develop their early-stage ideas into sustainable solutions that can tackle some of Ireland's prevailing social problems. We are delighted to see the progress made by this year's graduates and look forward to supporting them as they continue to accelerate positive social change nationally and contribute to Ireland's progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”   

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland IDEAS ACADEMY 2023 graduating class