Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund these groups are FREE to join

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THE FLYING CHILD

Groups

"Society's Shame, Not Mine"

Online Writing Group

A welcoming, supportive and creative space for adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Open to all genders. Groups run once a week, over a total of six weeks, and are facilitated by survivors of child sexual abuse. Suitable for people with all levels of writing experience, and very low pressure!

(Online - Zoom)

Peer Support Group

A group for survivors of child sexual abuse (18 plus), with a focus on community. Open to all genders; this is a gently facilitated group by Jasmine - a counsellor with lived-experience of child sexual abuse. It is not a therapy group. The focus is on community, psycho-education and creating a space for survivors to connect and reflect.

(Coming Soon)

Art Group/ Events

Groups and events for survivors of child sexual abuse. All genders welcome.

Watch this space for our next event!

When you self-refer to any of The Flying Child groups, we will ask you to complete a Google form, and arrange a brief pre-meet with one of the faciliatotrs. This meeting will be an opportunity for you to ask any questions, and recognise a friendly face when you come into the first session.

What the survivors say...

FAQs

With the exception of group grounding exercses where you might feel self-conscious, we ask for cameras to be kept on for the safety of the group. Some survivors who join might still be at risk from perpetrators, and not knowing who is in the online space can feel unsafe. We understand there are times where you might need to turn your camera off, eg if your child walks into the room and you need to manage that situation, but when possible, we ask for cameras to be kept on. Feedback suggests cameras on help to create a sense of community, safety and friendship within the group.
There is no pressure or expectation to read work to the group. Some people choose to read work, others paste it into chat so it can can be read out by the group facilitators. Some keep it to themselves and never share!
We recognise that lives are complicated, and finding a quiet space to join from isn't always possible. We have had someone join from a pub in the past! All we ask is that for the privacy and safety of the other group members, that your screen is not visible to anyone else, and that you wear headphones so nobody else can hear what is being said. What is said in the group, stays in the group.
The language we use to frame our experience of child sexual abuse is a personal choice. Unfortunately we will never get this language right for everyone. We use the word 'survivor' as it is a term widely understood. We ask that group members are respectful of the different ways in which others might identify.
Whilst we are not a fan of acronyms at The Flying Child, we use CSA on social media because the words 'child sexual abuse' are sometimes flagged, leading to restrictions or shadow-banning of our accounts. CSA is a good acronym for survivors to be aware of, as we need language and words to be able to connect with the survivor community.
The prompts used in our writing groups are not designed to focus on the abuse, but how you approach writing tasks is entirely up to you and so you might choose to do this. There is no pressure to share your work with the group. We don't use the term 'trigger warning' as we believe our words are not the danger - but we do believe people need choice over what they engage with. We ask that if you do write about your abuse and want to share, that you let the group know you will be talking about your experience. This way, people have the choice whether to listen or not.
We ask this question so that when we meet you before the group begins, we can ask if there is anything we can do to accomodate your disability. If you are disabled, there is no obligation to share this information with us.
Many survivors go through life feeling isolated and alone with their experiences, because we live in a society that remains silent about CSA. This can give us the wrong impression that we are a minority group, but the statistics suggest otherwise. Around 1 in 6 of us have experienced CSA, so you are definitely not alone. Meeting other survivors of child sexual abuse can feel overwhelming, or a relief, or a confusing mix of both. We remind you to let our wellbeing support know if you need some extra support during the group session.
We ask for a trusted contact in case you were to unexpectedly leave the group and we had concerns about your wellbeing. (This has never happened, but we want to make sure we've considered how to make the group as supportive as possible). In this scenario, we would try to make contact with you first, and failing this, would contact your trusted contact so we know someone you feel safe with in real life, has been able to check in with you.
One of the group facilitators will arrange a brief meeting over Zoom, in the days before the group starts, so you know a friendly face.
As above - this meeting is to allow you opportunity to meet one of the facilitators beforehand, and together decide if this group is the right one for you at this time.