expert help

< back to mental health

Working within the process of restorative justice helped Escaping Victimhood see that the needs of victims of serious crime to have their story heard, to be validated and respected are possible to meet with a brief intervention that can start the process towards recovery of the past self. Their lives will never be the same again but through the work of Escaping Victimhood in the past five years many who have been bereaved by homicide have begun to come to terms with their loss and to see that they can choose to live their lives as they wish rather than be dominated by their painful experience. These are the people who are the forgotten victims. We know there are so many more.

People affected by traumatic loss can often exhibit the following symptoms

• Deteriorating physical health
• Inability to sleep
• Depression and other mental illnesses
• Misdiagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder as various mental illnesses
• Difficulties in parenting and marriage/partnership breakdown
  
• Loneliness and isolation
  
• Overwhelming fear of revictimisation
  
• ‘Self-medication’ with alcohol and drugs, leading to further problems
  
• Poverty as a result of an inability to work and other factors listed above

The residential workshop helps people to understand the impact of the traumatic event and provide participants with a range of tools they can use in the future.  Participants can take time to consider what they want from the rest of their lives, and have the opportunity to try out different activities and therapies.  The follow-up day provides the opportunity for revisiting key learning from the workshops and reviewing the impact of the experience.  At this stage Escaping Victimhood also works with participants to support them to remain in touch with each other for ongoing support.

The impact has been marked in nearly all cases. People have said to us:

• ‘I was not going mad’
  
• ‘Now I understand’
  
• ‘The vicious circle I was in now explained’
  
• ‘Great relief from the tension I arrived with’
  
• ‘Made me feel a lot better’
  
• ‘I understood things which were there all the time’
• ‘I've been on hold for ten years. I want to live before I die’
  
• ‘Back into the swing of life’

We know that sleep improves, that people find a purpose in daily activity, resume family responsibilities and relationships, stop taking medication prescribed for depression (they realise the true cause of their experience is trauma not depression), start employment again, write up their experience and begin to be able to speak publicly about the transformation in their lives.

Escaping Victimhood welcomes commissioned work and funds from health and social care services, police forces and local authorities to provide specific courses and welcome fundraising events to further our success with people. Please contact us at our address to find out how you can help us.