We are SAFE Foundation
A trusted partner in trauma recovery since 1975.
We’re going beyond short-term crisis intervention to address the therapeutic and service needs of families. Learn more about our vision, approach and history.
Our Vision
A world free from the impact of trauma
Five decades of trauma recovery
SAFE Foundation is a charity with a bold vision. We are one of the leading domestic abuse recovery organisations in Devon and beyond. We exist to tackle the impact of childhood trauma that affects over 8.4m people in the UK alone.
We pursue our mission by developing pioneering therapy, delivering training, undertaking research and working with partners and policymakers to build a movement to innovate approaches to trauma recovery.
We believe for change to be effective it takes a whole unit to work cohesively. This is true of the families we support and the partners we work with to create change.
Our journey started as a local federated branch of Women’s Aid in 1974. Today, we’re a nationally focussed charity building a world free from the impact of trauma through therapy, training, research and partnerships.
Since 1974, we’ve honed our expertise to support people experiencing domestic abuse. Our team delivers a range of therapeutic programmes and professional training to organisations.
We’re led by people with lived experience of trauma and a deep understanding of the capability to help people recover from its impact. The voice of survivors is at the centre of work, enabling reflection and shaping our delivery and approach.
If you’d like to learn more about our work, please visit our contact page to get in touch with our team.
Download the SAFE Foundation Guide
Need to share more about our work with partners? Download our brochure and brand guidelines.
1974 – Exeter Women’s Aid is established to support women and children who are victims of domestic violence and abuse, through education, frontline support and safe accommodation.
2014 – SAFE’s work moved from offering accommodation to delivering community-based support provision.
2021 – the organisation rebrands as SAFE Foundation capturing the organisation’s renewed vision and mission to build a world free from trauma through therapy, training, partnerships and research.
2009 – we became independent from The Federation of Women’s Aid whilst retaining its membership. We changed our name to Stop Abuse For Everyone (SAFE).
2018 – Emma Morris MBE is appointed as SAFE’s new CEO
1974 – Exeter Women’s Aid is established to support women and children who are victims of domestic violence and abuse, through education, frontline support and safe accommodation.
2009 – we became independent from The Federation of Women’s Aid whilst retaining its membership. We changed our name to Stop Abuse For Everyone (SAFE).
2014 – SAFE’s work moved from offering accommodation to delivering community-based support provision.
2018 – Emma Morris MBE is appointed as SAFE’s new CEO
2021 – the organisation rebrands as SAFE Foundation capturing the organisation’s renewed vision and mission to build a world free from trauma through therapy, training, partnerships and research.
Meet Our CEO
Emma Morris MBE, is the CEO of SAFE in Exeter. Emma is a psychotherapist specialising in trauma recovery with 18 years experience as a CEO. She is also a social entrepreneur and for the past 20 years has created award winning therapeutic programmes within criminal justice, mental health, addiction treatment, social welfare and most recently domestic violence and abuse. Emma is passionate about delivering high quality therapeutic services to those in need and upskilling organisations to respond to trauma within the communities they seek to support. In 2010 Emma was a winner of the Big Venture Challenge, a national competition to find the top 25 social entrepreneurs across the UK; until March 2021 she was a Trustee of the Virgin Money Foundation. She was awarded an MBE for services to Victims of Abuse and to Charity in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List.
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Our Approach
We are guided by six core pillars, the behaviours, beliefs and attitudes that define our culture and underpin our work and decision making.
The growth of autonomy, independence and resilience is placed at the heart of our approach.
Boundaries
To empower change through clarity and openness in communication
Respect
To relate without judgment and embrace others’ diversity, experience, and views
Honesty
To speak truthfully and listen to the truth of others
Continuity
To provide sustainability, empathy, and integrity
Negotiation
To be flexible and seek opportunities to learn
Boldness
To challenge, innovate and create
Join us to transform trauma recovery
We’re one of leading domestic abuse recovery organisations in Devon and beyond. We specialise in group therapy underpinned by the Felt trauma approach. Click to learn more about our programmes and training.
We believe learning is essential if we want to reimagine approaches to trauma recovery. Our primary activity is to develop new research-informed lenses to trauma, powering the kind of extraordinary change that we need.
In reimagining trauma recovery, we work with partners, commissioners and policymakers to ask how a new paradigm of transformative trauma recovery might profoundly shift the way millions of people live their lives.
Our Partners
Our News
Explore our latest stories, team blogs or reports.
Get Involved
If you’re interested in joining our community of trauma professionals, find out more about our training or membership.