Survivors Voices includes people of all faiths and none. We recognise that for some people spirituality and faith play a significant role in their journey of abuse and recovery. We work with both secular and faith-based organisations; and survivors of who retain a spiritual practice and those who no longer have a faith. We have a growing community of practice survivors and allies interested in promoting survivors voices and trauma-competency in churches and faith communities. We always welcome hearing from other survivors of spiritual and church/faith-based abuse.
Browse the highlights and follow the links below for more information and to get involved.
Faith and Abuse peer support group
Our Faith and Abuse group provides peer support for survivors of abuse in a faith context, by a faith worker, or other faith-based abuse; and survivors of any kind of abuse for whom faith and spirituality are an important part of their experience. We gather in a safe space to give and receive support on our journey of healing and recovery. More about the group HERE
Faith activism: Messages of Truth
The Zebra of Truth brings messages and Ribbons of Truth to key events as part of our activism, to highlight the experiences and voices of survivors and allies. This includes faith events and faith communities. We welcome messages of support, solidarity and protest from survivors and allies. Our aim is to inform, raise awareness, provoke dialogue and action.
Thank you to our colleague Catherine E Holbrook for the wonderful Zebra artwork. Check out more of her work HERE and buy your own copies HERE.
Next Ribbons of Truth is at the Church of England General Synod meeting in York, July 5th-9th 2024. Join in HERE.
Survivor Chaplaincy
In 2022 we produced a discussion paper on a possible model for Survivor Chaplaincy. We are exploring a survivor-led, multi-faith chaplaincy pilot and are keen to work with others doing similar work or who would like to help. Please contact us if you are interested in getting involved; and join our open meeting to plan the next steps.
I, Lord – spiritual abuse
Survivors Voices were proud to be involved in the development of I, Lord, a powerful play about spiritual abuse; and to provide peer support to the community cast and audience for it’s successful first run in London. We continue to support Nell Hardy and Response Ability Theatre to bring the powerful I, Lord to wider audiences. We’re raising funds for a tour in 2025 and are keen to speak with potential venues, faith communities and groups who would like to be involved in community workshops and casts, and anyone who can help us to mobilise support for this brilliant and inspiring show about spiritual abuse. Contact Jane if you have ideas or connections.
Faith Community Networks
We’re members of the Faith and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Coalition. Check out the coalition’s work HERE, including resources and events on topics such as spiritual abuse and the role of faith leaders in preventing and responding to VAWG.
We’re members the Spiritual Abuse Collective, hosted by Replenished Life. There is an online forum for anyone interested in sharing collective wisdom and seeking solutions to spiritual abuse. You can join here.
Church of England Survivor Engagement
Jane (Chevous) who is a church abuse survivor, is a survivor representative on the Church of England National Safeguarding Panel; and a member of the Redress Scheme survivor working group. She is also one of the ISB 11 whose reviews were stopped when the Independent Safeguarding Board was disbanded. Jane and other survivors from our community can support your diocese or church with good engagement with survivors, and trauma-informed training for your staff and members.
Survivors who are interested in engaging with the Church of England nationally to improve training, policy and practice, can sign up the the Survivor Engagement newsletter. This has now been made easier with an online sign-up form HERE. We sometimes highlight key opportunities in our Faith and Abuse, but there are too many for us to list them all. Most opportunities are open to survivors from all backgrounds, not just church-based abuse.
Open letter to churches
Our Faith & Abuse group wrote an open letter to church leaders, which we have shared at various events. You can download a copy HERE; please share with any church communities and leaders that you know or belong to.
Trauma-informed Theology and Spirituality
In 2021 we began a series of resources and conversations to develop a trauma-informed theology and a survivor-centred spirituality.
Our first publication was a Christian perspective on Redemptive Justice by David and Sue Atkinson: A Gospel framework for The Church of England’s on-going conversation with survivors of church-related abuse.
We also contributed to a paper for the Church of England National Safeguarding Team’s Learning and Development programme, that explored a Theology for Safeguarding. We’ll be building on this work in 2024 and welcome others to join us.
