Leeds Visible Project

Monday 3 February marks the beginning of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week.

The new Leeds Visible Project provides organisations with the framework, support and resources to support people who have been sexually abused as children.

The Project steering group includes people with lived experience along with representatives from Leeds City Council, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s office and the third sector.

Sharon Prince, one of our Consultant Clinical Psychologists and the chair of the Visible Project said: “I’ve worked with people with complex mental health needs for over 25 years. I’d say the majority of these people have experienced sexual abuse as children or some other form of childhood trauma.

“It affects every area of people’s lives. It leads to victimisation, depression, anxiety and even psychosis. Whilst survivors of this trauma can recover well with the right support, we need to do more to tackle the causes early on and not treat the symptoms later in life when the damage can be profound.

“It should be everybody’s business to tackle child sexual abuse. You don’t have to be a professional to take time to listen to someone and to bear witness to their experience with compassion, empathy and without judgement.

“That’s why I’m so passionate about the Visible Project – which is about bringing the impact of child sexual abuse and the profoundly damaging effect it has on people’s lives into the public consciousness.”