Our proposed CASE project looks set to be exciting. We all know what it is like to overcome a challenge: the feelings of satisfaction and the increase in confidence and self-esteem. This project will take that idea a little step further! the aim is for HEAL members to undertake challenges to boost self-esteem. The ideas members came up with include:

  • Circus skills
  • Fire walking
  • Balloon jumping
  • White water rafting
POETRY
Writing can be a linerating form of expression, and many survivors find it a very empowering medium to help work through troublesome areas and issues. Below is a poem by one of our members, the product of our workshops.

I go to HEAL to:
Be safe
Be accepted
Be me
Be whole
Be less isolated

To trust and be trusted
To make friends with people who understand where I have come from
To explore
To take risks
To talk about rather than around the issue of abuse
To try to deal with the feelings of guilt and shame which torture me and about
which I have almost never spoken before
To share
To cry and not worry (too much) about how weak and unmanly I'm being
To moan about how unfair it all is
To find out who I am

To be free from the prejudice of others, and from my own


(HEAL Member)

"Expressions of the Soul", a booklet of poetry from survivors of childhood abuse, is available for £2.

Photo of hands in sand artwork here.