Aviva Community Fund has provided £2,423 of match funding
Supporting Victims of Sexual Abuse During Covid-19
Kingswood, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Our aim is to provide telephone & online counselling, in response to the significant rise in sexual abuse referrals during the UK lockdown.
About us
Kinergy provides trauma-informed counselling and group therapy in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, BANES and the North Somerset area.
Kinergy's Mission - Listen, Believe, Support, Empower
At Kinergy our mission is to lessen the long-term trauma for those whose lives have been impacted by sexual abuse or assault. Through counselling we aim to help individuals recover safely and develop resilience and independent living.
With Kinergy's support survivors of sexual violence gain the strength to form trusting and positive relationships, pursue life-long education or work ambitions, re-engage with their communities, and re-claim their right to a bright and wonderful future.
Who We Support
Kinergy is unique in its approach, as we don’t restrict individuals who can access our services. As an inclusive charity we offer support to individuals above 16 years old of all genders, sexualities and race or ethnicity.
Our clients are often have very complex mental health issues, due to the abuse they have experienced. 72% of clients have had suicidal thoughts before they start counselling and most experience panic attacks, night terrors or intense flashbacks.
We also offer a support group for survivors and their family /partner / friends, so that they may meet with other individuals and begin to break free from the isolating effects of the abuse.
Before Covid-19
We have a team of 6 staff members and 26 volunteer counsellors, and together we create a safe, non-judgemental and supportive environment for anyone who needs our help.
Before the pandemic Kinergy provided support to over 80 individual clients each week.
Our Response to Covid-19 & Hopes for the Future
During lockdown we've worked hard to adapt our in-person counselling services to online or telephone sessions. It was important that we acted quickly in order to provide continued support for our clients who had already started with Kinergy when the pandemic hit. An unplanned or abrupt end to therapy can be traumatic for the survivor, and can potentially undo all of their hard emotional work thus far.
In addition, we have also been able to offer our online/telephone services to new clients who have been on our waiting list. This has been very important to us as we're aware of our increasing waiting list, which has seen an significant rise during Covid-19. We have seen an 20% increase in new clients looking for support and with over 40% of our clients having experienced domestic abuse, being in lockdown increases the risk of clients living with abusive partners/family member.
We are asking for donations to help us continue to adapt and expand our online/telephone counselling services. Our next goal is to set up virtual sessions for our family/friends support and group therapy services.
Looking further into the future, we believe that having virtual support services permanently in place at Kinergy will be a great way to ensure that we continue to reach as many people as possible, including those - who for work/family commitments, mobility or financial difficulties - travel to our Kingswood centre isn't always possible.
Testimonies
These are some of the feedback we've received from past clients:
- "The impact of sexual abuse doesn't end when the attack/assault/abuse ends. In lots of respects that is just the beginning of the impact it has on your life. In my case, my life my world collapsed the night I was attacked and raped."
- "Kinergy literally helped me get my life back, improve all kinds of relationships and learn how to love and accept myself."
- "I had some dark moments over the year I was with Kinergy, but I felt safe and like I wasn't going to break because of the support I was given. Kinergy has changed my life, and despite expecting to not be able to open up I surprised myself and I was able to talk about the unspeakable fears and thoughts I was holding in my mind."
This project successfully funded on 7th October 2020