Most of you don’t know my story and that’s not because I haven’t wanted to tell you but more the fact that I’ve struggled to find my voice or the words to tell my story. I mean where do I start ? The past year of my life has been the worst year I have ever experienced. To cut a long story short during the summer I had to go to court and give evidence against an ex boyfriend who had committed sexual assault offences and voyeurism to 5 women. I was one of the victims.

Going to court and giving evidence over somebody I used to care about was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Fortunately justice prevailed and he is currently serving a prison sentence of 3 years and will be on the sex offenders register for life. 

After court there was a big media coverage in my local area which made me feel ashamed and confused about how I felt. On the one hand I was glad the whole process was over but the media had worded things in a way that made me feel irrelevant and unimportant because the guy had served in the forces. 

This caused my emotions to be in turmoil as I felt like a pathetic victim that didn’t matter. My privacy had been taken away and I’d been violated. I felt sick to my core and felt like nobody understood and that I was worthless. It was the lowest point in my entire life. People couldn’t understand and were confused by what I was going through which led me to feel alone. I even felt let down by the justice system as I found out intimate details about my case through the newspapers before I was told by the police. I started to feel like I didn’t matter and like nothing mattered, that’s when I went looking for help.  

I first heard about Trust house when the probation officers came round to my house to tell me about the sentencing and what help was available to me. Trust house provides counselling for victims of rape , sexual assault and any kind of sexual abuse.  At first due to the strange nature of my case I felt like I didn’t deserve the help and that someone else who’d been through worse should receive the help not me.

However after meeting my amazing counsellor she re-assured me that I deserved the help just as much as anyone else did. All the counsellors at Trust house are volunteers and don’t get paid for what they do. My counsellor moved heaven and earth to help me through what I was going through week by week until I felt like I no longer needed her help. I would go as far as saying that she saved my life. 

It was then I decided that I wanted to try and change this whole horrible experience into a positive. Hence why I’m writing this message to you today. We may be very close , we may have only spoken a few times but there are people out there like me who need help. Therefore I’m going to swim 2500 meters on the 10th of March to raise money for Trust house so that they can continue to help people in need. It has been promised to me that any money that I raise will go towards training the staff on  voyeurism (since it’s such a new offence in terms of recording etc) and the effect that it can have on victims.  If I can help just one person like me be doing this swim then I will have accomplished my goals. 

I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to those of you who continue to support me and if you can sponsor me it would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you so much,

Steph