It was a warm summer in 1997 in Poland. My paternal grandmother took my 2 sisters and I away on holiday to Koronowo-a small town in the North of Poland. We were staying at my grandmother's friends house in a small residential area on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by a beautiful countryside, farm animals and a lot of greenery.   It is important to note that I am originally from the South side of the country and while our stay was meant to be 2 weeks, a week or so into our stay a huge flood happened in the south side of the country. Our home was unsafe to come back to and my mu ..read more

We had moved to the Midlands from the South when I was 18 months old. With just my mum and my brother Adam. We finally got our new build home. I remember this time being very exciting, I remember going to see the house from the outside and looking over the fence wishing our garden was as big as next door’s. Turned out that the builders had put the wrong numbers on the doors. And the big garden was ours! and we had been viewing our neighbours house and garden. Everyone started to move into the new homes, everybody was new and so many families. It was one of them streets where everyone walked in ..read more

I knew this man for about a year. Let’s call him Ghostface. I met Ghostface at a restaurant while he was on his shift. That day I was actually on a date. My date was too busy watching a sports game on TV so Ghostface started chatting with me and offered me a free drink. I just smiled and chuckled. Upon leaving, Ghostface asked when he could take me out on a date. I smiled and said, “maybe one day.” I enjoyed the restaurant so although my date was horrible it became my go to place. Each time I would go, Ghostface was very talkative and flirty.  I enjoyed his attention, so I was flirty and ..read more

Friday, October 20th, 2023, marks one year since the publication of the final IICSA report (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse), which detailed the investigation into Child Sexual Abuse in England & Wales over a period of decades and proposed a package of important recommendations to prevent future child sexual abuse. At the conclusion of the Inquiry, Legacy benches were installed at locations across England and Wales. These benches provide a reflective space and commemorate the experiences of thousands of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. This installation was seen as ..read more

July 2015… 8 years later I still dread the month of July every year.  I never told anyone because I was scared of what people would think of me. I felt dirty, filthy, used and embarrassed. My skin didn’t feel like mine anymore, all I could feel was him all over me. I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t move or breathe. To this day, until now that is, no one knows my story. But I need this weight taken off my shoulders and I want to help others out there who have been through what I have.  July, 2015.  I was making my way to a boys house that I had met through a ..read more

The Survivors Trust is encouraging people to support local charity S.H.E UK in their bid to win £68275 of National Lottery funding in this year’s The People’s Projects.   The Mansfield-based charity, S.H.E UK supports survivors of sexual violence and abuse across Nottinghamshire, and are one of five groups in ITV Calendar South region in the running for a share of almost £250,000 of funding. If successful, the charity will use the money to help improve the lives of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sexual violence and rape through their SHE-roes 'Lounge' and peer-group project. T ..read more

The gang rape for me wasn’t one event as a whole! it was divided into multi horrible, terrifying consecutive parts. It felt like I was the victim of a serial killer, except I was the target in all their attempts, one after the other. I lived that fear over and over that night in their van. It wasn’t only the disgust of them forcing themselves on me, it was also tons of terrifying uncertainty. No matter how painful what they were doing to me at every moment was, I was always thinking “what are they going to do next…?” And then there was this fear of what are they going to do after this? I mean ..read more

97%. What’s the first thing that came to your mind? Hang onto that thought. You always hear those horror stories; the horror stories that get tossed around small towns that then pour into the next. Horror stories that people talk about so freely because “it won’t happen to me”. “Teenage girl gets followed, kidnapped, and raped.” reads every occasional newspaper, subtitle to politics, of course, that is, if it gets reported. Subtitled, belittled, and forgotten a week after the occurrence. Those horror stories that no one thinks too hard about, just some event that happened that’s now in the pas ..read more

I would like to share my story in the hope it may give strength and hope to other survivors. Adopted officially but within the family at birth . Adopted Father & Uncle raped abused me. My Father was controlling and even managed to re-traumatise me  beyond the grave by leaving his estate to the local church who refused access to many items from my past . He poisoned local people against me  so I was too afraid to attend the funeral. My father raped me until age 11,& my Uncle to age 19. It became clear this was the prime driver in my adoption . Adopted mother did not want me as ..read more

Two weeks after asking for a separation I was woken up to the worst nightmare of my life. I remember shutting down during it and not mentally being there (I learned that coping mechanism from trauma in my childhood). I had to stay in the house for several months afterward so I did not deal with it initially. I just shoved it aside and I definitely didn’t report it because he and his family are “upstanding Christians”. I Knew no one would believe me. I was already being judged for getting divorced by everyone in the church community and I was not putting myself through that. After that incident ..read more