So this week there has been a lot in the news about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. There has been a revelation of emails between the two which show that Peter Mandelson clearly believed Epstein was innocent even after Epstein had been convicted. He clearly […]
We are getting very excited our workshop for Survivors and their supporters is coming up in November the workshop is called: Processing Feelings, Power Dynamics and Post Traumatic Growth” A Workshop Looking At Shame, Control, Anxiety, Sexuality and Pressure To Recover For Survivors of Sexual Abuse And Their Supporters” Date: […]
“Back to Life”….. Back to Reality” by Soul II Soul released way back in 1989 became such an iconic song because it perfectly captured the feeling we have when summer is over and September hits. Perhaps you have had a break from work, fitness regime and even therapy and now […]
Bank Holidays may not be easy if you are not in contact with your family and your friends are busy. Here are some practical ways you can make the bank holiday a little easier on yourself: Reframe The Day: Instead of thinking of it as “a day off meant for […]
Recently we delivered some training at Sutton Women’s Centre’s excellent counsellors on working in a trauma informed way with Survivors – this included teaching the counsellors the three phases of trauma informed practice. We got some great feedback including: Thank you for running such a fantastic course. It was incredibly […]
If the England Women’s Euros Win spoke to us about anything it has to be about Resilience. Physical and Emotional resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from life’s setbacks, adapt to change, and keep going even when things feel tough. Importantly perhaps resilience is not a talent we […]
If you are a Woman Survivor and you would like to meet other Survivors in a safe and supportive environment we have a new Into The Light Women’s Survivors Group Psycho-Educational Course starting in September on Wednesday nights that could be just for you! Some of the benefits of joining […]
A religious teacher once said that he had not come to judge people. A powerful message but one that is often so hard to apply to ourselves – especially when things are not going well or we have taken a wrong turning in life. We often hold huge unempathetic and […]
Last week Into The Light delivered an afternoon’s training to some fantastic counsellors who work at The Young People’s Shop in Chichester. The training was specifically on Trauma Informed Practice in counselling with a focus on working with Survivors. The training went really well – the counsellors were really talented […]
Janina Fisher a pioneering Trauma Counsellor and Writer recently sent an email to Sadie one of our Senior counsellors on healing. This is what she said: About 10 years ago, a student asked me a question that stayed with me: “What do we mean by healing? We talk about trauma […]
Most great instigators of social change have intimate personal knowledge of trauma. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind as do Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela and Elli Wiesel. Read the life history of any visionary and you will find insights and passions that came from having dealt with devastation. The same is […]
We have subsidised spaces coming up for our Autumn Women Survivors Group Psycho-Educational Course for London Women Survivors. Autumn may seem a long way away but we are starting to form the group in the next few weeks. This is a psycho-educational topic based course facilitated by Trained Counsellors especially […]
Post Traumatic Growth is the third phase of the Phased Oriented Approach to Trauma Recovery. In this phase there is a creation of a new sense of self and a new future. This is often a neglected stage. People often get caught up in stabilizing and examining memories but forget […]
There is a myth that people who were sexually abused as children are likely to become abusers themselves The facts are that most victims and survivors of child sexual abuse never rape or sexually abuse other people. There is never an excuse for sexual abuse or any other type of […]
Supporters of Survivors may often feel overlooked or not supported themselves. It can be so hard to be a friend, partner or relative of someone who has experienced abuse. Of course you want to support the person you care about as best as you can. But that is not always […]
We are really excited to welcome everyone attending to our Into The Light workshop tomorrow. This workshop is for people of all genders who are Survivors and also those who support Survivors – this could be partners, friends and also counsellors and mental health professionals. During the workshop we will […]
You are probably not alone – even if you are not going through trauma recovery – just switching on Breakfast TV can make us feel extremely anxious. There are ways we can learn how to calm ourselves and this is by learning how to regulate our nervous system and return […]
Celebrity Big Brother is back next week. This is about people who volunteer to be filmed 24/7 in a house they cannot leave – and the rewards are – publicity – more fame – and of course money! But what if you have been trapped in a house that you […]
Adolescence the Netflix Series is very much in the media and questions have even been asked in Parliament about the issues it raises. It is a gritty and thought provoking series about young people, social media, bullying and the tragedy of peer violence which culminates in the murder of a […]
This week marked five years since the first lockdown of the pandemic of 2020. For most people the lockdown was a shocking and difficult experience. Our lives were affectively put on hold and we were very limited in what we could do. Many people felt lonely. For some Survivors of […]
Next week we have our Spring Into The Light Women Survivors Group Psycho-Educational Course starting and we are very excited about the journey this group will take. The ten week topic based course has been running for over 30 years and we have had some excellent feedback from the women […]
This week we are celebrating International Women’s Day. And whilst we can celebrate the incredible strength, resilience, and achievements of women around the world we also need to acknowledge the sad reality that violence against women is still an all too present grim reality for many women. Here in the […]