Sexual Offending Support

Since We Are Survivors opened our doors, there has always been a healthy tension about what part we play in engaging with people who have committed sexual offences, and what is “none of our business”.

Our mission to break the silence of the sexual harm on boys and men, providing support and advocacy to them and their loved ones to engage in positive healing free from the impact of abuse has always been 100% what we do and will 100% always be what we do.

We need to ensure male survivors, and their loved ones, feel safe in the spaces that we facilitate and in the services we provide. Therefore, in order for us to do this, our community-based services such as community activities (Drop In, The Safe Room, Art Room, The Coffee Shop, etc) and are unable to offer support to those who are under investigation or have convictions for sexual offences. Equally, our community hub and spoke sites are unable to accommodate those who are under investigation or have convictions for sexual offences – we need to ensure everyone feels safe.

However, our organisational vision of:

“a society where no male survivor is left behind”

must mean NO male survivor and so that must include the very small percentage of male survivors who have committed sexual offences. Therefore, in consultation with our board, our staff team, our stakeholders and most importantly representatives of the male survivor community here in our Expert Reference Group, we decided to create a new and different space for survivors that have committed sexual offences.

It is our strong belief that our greatest aim as an organisation but for the whole of society must be, to reduce the prevalence of sexual harm committed against boys and men and so we have to recognise that there is a need to tackle the issue of support and treatment provided to those survivors who have committed sexual offences.

We Are Listening

The We Are Listening service is a 1:1 survivor-centred/trauma informed talking therapy service for male survivors of sexual harms (childhood sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, online harms) who have themselves been convicted of a sexual offence.

The service model offers:

• 20 week 1:1 therapy programme
• A stepped-care model that allows individuals to increase or decrease the intensity of support they receive
• To support these male survivors to focus on their own experience of sexual harms
• Promote coping mechanisms so these male survivors can regain a sense of safety, trust, and stability in their lives
• Support male survivors, reclaim their sense of agency, self-worth, and well-being

Whilst it may be a difficult and uncomfortable discussion in society, we firmly believe that a male survivors voice still deserves to be heard, regardless of their history.

We are committed to ensuring that we are pro-active in reducing and preventing sexual harms against boys and men and our We Are Listening service is a key part of our wider prevention programme.

If you want to know more about We Are Listening service, you can email: [email protected]

All of our We Are Listening services take place in various health and justice settings in Greater Manchester.

Other Services

There are a number of other services across the UK that provide different kinds of support for those that have committed sexual offences; those that are under investigation for sexual offences; and those that are concerned about their thoughts and feelings and worried about their behaviour.

Stop It Now is a national support service delivered by the Lucy Faithful Foundation. Their anonymous helpline, email and chat services are here for anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse and how to prevent it. They can help you if you are worried about your own thoughts, feelings or behaviour, or with any concerns about another adult or young person. You don’t have to give them any identifying information, so you can remain anonymous.

Stop It Now speak to thousands of people every year, and help them take action to protect children and young people from sexual abuse and exploitation.

Call the helpline on 0808 1000 900 or email [email protected] or go to the main website www.stopitnow.org.uk

StopSO UK is the is the specialist treatment organisation for perpetrators of sexual offending. They work with those at risk of turning thought into action. StopSO believe prevention is better than cure and so provide specialist therapy across the UK to people who have committed sexual offences and those who have yet to act on their ‘troubling thoughts’ at the earliest possible point in their thought process.

StopSO UK also work with families, helping them come to terms with being related to a person who has committed sexual offences.

For further information, to enquire about support or to book an appointment, email [email protected] or go to the website www.stopso.org.uk.

Circles UK is the national body supporting the development, quality, coordination and effectiveness of Providers of Circles of Support and Accountability (Circles) – an innovative and successful community contribution to reducing sex offending, working in close partnership with criminal justice agencies.

Circles work by providing a support network that requires the Core Member (the person with convictions for and/or harmful sexual behaviour) to take responsibility for his/her ongoing risk and behaviour.

A group of (normally four to six) trained Volunteers from the local community form a Circle with the Core Member, meeting regularly to talk, provide support and practical guidance and ‘hold them accountable’.

For more information go to the main website www.circles-uk.org.uk

Creating Change is a co-production project between Greater Manchester Combined Authority, His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (Greater Manchester), and key organisations’ in the Greater Manchester Voluntary, Community, Faith & Social Enterprise sector. The service is a two-year pilot (commencing in 2024) and offers individuals engaged in GM Probation and in GM Approved Premises, who have convictions for sexual offences, the opportunity to enter a support pathway that will support them in their behaviour change.

Focus Forward offers individuals that meet the service criteria resettlement support, including pro-social behaviour support.

We Are Listening, delivered by We Are Survivors, offers 1-1 therapy for project participants who are survivors of sexual abuse and trauma themselves.

Individuals referred into the project can access both or either pathway depending on their situation. For further information email [email protected]