ACTS FAST

Today is 24/7 - #SamaritansAwarenessDay. If you need to talk, there are people ready to listen. Support is available 365 days a year at: ☎️Samaritans helpline: 116 123

We welcome this call to action announced today from Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blythe for a whole system approach to Violence Against Women and Girls (#VAWG). Although the scale of VAWG is growing we hope that this approach will encourage investment in services and a way forward to ensure women and children can grow up in a society free from the fear of violence. At ACTS FAST we believe by supporting parents we build understanding and resilience within families protecting them and wider society from the long term impact of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (#CSAE). #NPCC #ACTSFAST #TraumaInformedSupport

So proud of our CEO Simone Gosden sharing the work of ACTS FAST with academic leaders from across the world who are leading research in Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

I met with child protection teams at Dorset Police this week. I was really proud to share the work of ACTS FAST and the positive outcomes we see for our clients. Thank you to all who came along for your warm welcome and openness to understand more about our approach. We believe protective parents are key to their family's long term recovery and deserve the right support to enable them to reach their full potential.

We are pleased to see this article in The Guardian highlight the scale of online child sexual abuse. At ACTS FAST we support the adult family members impacted by the painful fallout following an arrest. Helping them to process the impact of trauma and create a stable foundation for them and their children to recover.

Super proud of our CEO Simone Gosden being invited to speak at the international Taiwan Fund for Children and Families Conference. Sharing best practice for supporting families impacted by Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and learning from leading organisations from around the world. Read all about it in this article from Dorset Biz News. #CSA #ACTSFAST #FamilySupport

What does it feel like to hold a secret? A secret forced upon you, a secret that creates a silence -a silence so loud it has lifelong impacts. The first thing I’m always asked when I say I have lived experience of child sexual abuse is “why didn’t you tell me”. There are so many reasons. Those reasons are individual to each person who experiences this. What is not unique are the feelings of judgement, blame and shame that survivors often feel. More than anything, what stops us from stepping out of the shadows is fear - fear of being seen differently, not heard, not believed, responsible. But we are not responsible for any of this, these things do not belong to us. In episode 2 of “Conversations we’ve never had” Candice Harris and I consider the Abyss, the point at which abuse is occurring and the time before we tell anyone what has happened. In the darkness and depths of the abyss, something in every survivor is forged – a power, a strength, an ability to find glimmers of light in simplest of things. These will eventually become our footholds out, they will become our way forward in life. As services, this is the part we don’t ever get to see but that we are always trying to understand. Join us and please share with your community...because if people across services can understand what this looks like, perhaps so many children every year do not need to feel lost and alone in the darkness.

Wow, I can’t quite believe it’s happened and I’ve done it! I love sharing the work of ACTS FAST, I know what we do is special and unique and I’m so proud of the amazing women I work with but I never imagined I would get the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and speak at a conference with contributors from 6 different countries discussing progressive ways to support families impacted by trauma. Thank you to Taiwan Fund for Children and Families for inviting me and for being such wonderful hosts. This is a memory I shall treasure. Now, to surrender to the jet lag…maybe it was all a dream after all!

Our CEO Simone Gosden is currently in Taiwan sharing the work we do supporting families impacted by Child Sexual Abuse. Looking forward to hearing all about the conference and learning from the work happening across the world supporting vulnerable children and their families.