We want to respond well and support anyone who has experienced abuse. Our leaflet for survivors explains how we will respond to survivors of abuse and this page contains information about other sources of support.
Download the full flyer here or click the image on the right.
Safe Spaces
Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service, run by First Light service, an independent charity that specialises in supporting victims and survivors of abuse.
The opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, with late opening until 7pm on Tuesdays.
You can contact the Safe Spaces team through their helpline (0300 303 1056), their live chat facility or by emailing safespaces@firstlight.org.uk.
Oxford Diocese Chaplaincy for Survivors
The Chaplaincy for Survivors offers support to those affected by abuse by providing pastoral and spiritual care. This initiative is based on concern expressed in the Survivor Group that there is limited and unsupervised spiritual support for survivors outside informal structures.
The Chaplains are trained by an external provider (Survivors Voices) and are professionally supervised. The chaplains are committed to, and understand the need for, complete confidentiality. Nothing you share with them will be passed on to a third party without your permission (with the proviso that the chaplains operate within safeguarding best practice).
There will shortly be a confidential contact form in place which will go directly to a member of the Survivor Group who will put you in contact with a chaplain. In the meantime, please contact Louise Whitehead if you would like to be put in contact with a chaplain.
Oxford Survivor Group
Oxford Diocese is working with and learning from a group of people who have experienced abuse within a church context to enable the development of survivor support, care and engagement.
Objectives of the group include:
- providing independent advice and guidance to the diocese about survivor support and involvement
- ensuring through co-production, involvement, and consultation that survivor voices are central to the design, implementation and evaluation of support to survivors
- bringing a survivor perspective to wider safeguarding work in the diocese
- contributing to Church of England national safeguarding projects and survivor engagement
The group is open to all survivors of any kind of abuse in a church context within the Oxford Diocese whenever it happened and wherever they currently live. For safeguarding reasons, it is only open to adults (age 18+).
Diocesan members will be Louise Whitehead, Head of Safeguarding, and Revd Paul Cowan, Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford.
If you would like to join the group please contact Louise Whitehead.
Redress Scheme
The National Redress Scheme will offer financial redress as well as therapeutic, spiritual and emotional support, acknowledgment of wrongdoing on the part of the Church, apology and support to survivors of Church-related abuse. Learn more about the scheme, and read the latest updates, on the Church of England website.
Further resources:
- MACSAS supports women and men who have been sexually abused, as children or adults, by ministers, clergy or others under the guise of the Church. They support both Survivors who have remained within their Christian communities and those who have left.
- Survivors Voices is a survivor-led organisation that runs peer support groups for victim-survivors of all kinds of abuse, including faith-based abuse. It has a newsletter and other special events for survivors of abuse experienced in churches and other faith-based communities.
- Replenished Life is an independent charity that provides practical advice and support for those who have experienced abuse and trauma within faith and faith organisations providing a range of options.
- 'Thirtyone:eight is a leading independent, non-denominational Christian safeguarding charity providing a wide range of support to over 10,000 organisations across the UK. They exist to help create safer places for all, including an open-access helpline
- Peer Support Group is a support group which is run by Newcastle diocese for those who have been harmed by any form of abuse in a church/faith context. The group meets once a month for 90 minutes on Zoom, with less frequent in-person sessions held in Newcastle.
- Safeline is a specialist charity that works to prevent sexual violence and abuse and support those affected to cope and recover.
- The Male Survivors Partnership aims to end sexual violence against men and boys. Their goals are to secure prevention, healing and justice for men and boys through research, advocacy and capacity building.
A fuller list of organisations offering support to survivors, including therapy and counselling resources, helplines and self-help resources, is available to download.