First Steps Approach

Women who have experienced sexual abuse or violence, and/or domestic and emotional abuse, need long-term support. Women who take that first brave step to disclose, ask for help or to prosecute their abuser are often left to deal with the emotional, social or financial fallout created by their decision to speak out. Mental or physical ill-health may become worse, there may be issues within the immediate and extended family and some may lose social and employment connections.

Those who have been subjected to abuse, desperately need services that offer support on a long-term, individualised basis.
We believe the service we provide to victims of abuse, is unique as it is the only one of its kind, in our community, to work with cases of historic childhood sexual abuse. We believe everyone must be given a choice and make sure we provide a much more restorative and recovery-focussed approach for those who have been failed by other agencies.

We work with a range of women including those experiencing mental ill-health, and as well as working with clients who have experienced abuse we also work with those who are victims of workplace bullying. We believe that if we help these women and girls to have access to a service which recognises and responds to their experiences of and surviving the abuse and trauma they have been subjected to in their lives.

Whilst we believe it is important that we come together as agencies and service providers to discuss the issues and how best to tackle them, there must also be an importance placed on implementing appropriate solutions following such professional assemblies. Survivors who have been brave enough to speak out about their abuse must be acknowledged and supported every step of the way, in order to help them feel validated and have hope for a more positive future.

Work towards improvement in the services that women need to achieve a more effective response to female abuse Ensure that the expertise of women abuse survivors is recognised and that input is included in peer support groups training, and creative ways to give voice to the stories of lives experience through creative writing and arts.