Supporting ACTS FAST's Trauma Support Service
Organised by ACTS FASTOur Trauma Support Service is a free 10 week, one to one, trauma informed service providing stabilisation, psychoeducation and support.
Story
We believe nobody fits in a box, but we offer compassionate support to families in 2 highly specialised ways:
Non-abusive parents, carers and adult family members of children who have suffered Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) or Sexual Assault.
Adult family members and partners of individuals who have accessed Indecent Images of Children (IIOC)
The Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published in October 2022 explains "Evidence shows that CSA does not just impact on the lives of victims and survivors, but can also have adverse effects on their families. The impacts experienced by non-offending parents – and, in particular, mothers – as a result of their children’s CSA victimisation can mirror those outcomes experienced by victims and survivors.
CSA can affect all aspects of parents’ lives, including areas like physical health, personal relationships, employment and financial stability, over the medium to long term. Rates of trauma (in this case in the form of ‘secondary’ or ‘vicarious’ trauma) and emotional distress were found to be high among non-offending parents.
Parents can find it challenging to support a child who has been victimised at a time when they themselves might be struggling to cope with the emotional and practical strain following CSA. This can create a vicious circle in which the support that parents are able to provide to their child is compromised, thereby reducing the child’s chances of experiencing resilience or recovery."
We work with a large range of partners and statutory agencies across the UK, supporting families who are living with the consequences of CSA, CSE and IIOC . We take referrals on a very regular basis and often family members get in contact because they have nowhere else to turn to for help.
ACTS FAST believes that by supporting secondary victims we create a foundation that allows families to heal from trauma and lessens the impact of abuse on society. We are proud to be one of only two charities nationwide whose sole purpose is to support this client group.
ACTS FAST is on an evolving journey to provide trauma support, counselling and group work for families. Everyone's journey is different, so we stand with families for as long as our support is still helpful; empowering parents, carers and family members who in turn support their children.
At the moment we don't support children directly, we strategically support family members, the secondary victims, so that they can go on to support their children in the long term.
Freya's Story
Freya was referred to the charity by a local police force, as she was in a very vulnerable situation where her children had disclosed that they had been sexually abused by their birth father. She was emotionally lost, facing becoming homeless and struggling to talk about any of her own feelings or emotions. ACTS FAST have supported her by utilizing our trauma model to help put in place coping strategies and psychoeducational tools to help her through the pain and continue to support her family. This is what Freya said:
“It means so much to me that I have received support from ACTS FAST over the past two years. Just knowing that there are people that I can talk to who understand and that I'm not on my own. Having someone to talk to and the emotional support knowing that you were there for as long as I need you. I just didn’t know of anyone in my situation who I could talk to and still don’t. The emotional support I received really helped me, by being in an even better place to be able to support my children.”
To find out more, please visit our website