Our Impact
We’re transforming approaches to trauma recovery through our pioneering Felt Trauma Therapy® and systems-change work. Find out more on this page.
Understanding our social impact
As we continue to build a movement for change with partners and policymakers, we hope to move beyond the traditional annual impact report and start sharing regular updates about what’s working and what more we can do together.
We continue to invest in our infrastructure and learning, centring our work around three strands – therapy, research and influence. We keep the voice of the survivor at the heart of all we do.
We believe for change to be effective it takes a whole system to work cohesively. This is true of the families we support and we, as partners, must work together too to create change.
Desmond Tutu said: “there comes a point when we need to stop pulling people out of the river and go upstream to find out why they are falling in.” At SAFE foundation, we are doing both. We are led by people with lived and living experience of trauma which guides our understanding of how to help others to recover.
Working together with partners and policymakers, we have an opportunity to develop a shared language and understanding of trauma, shifting from being trauma informed to trauma responsive.
How We Make A Difference
01. Group Therapy
At the heart of SAFE’s ethos is group therapy. Being part of a group, or family of choice, brings many advantages from bonding and intimacy to hope and healing. We know there is comfort in commonality and the sharing of experiences reduces shame. We receive direct referrals for our therapeutic programmes from individuals as well as a referrals from local organisations. Following our assessment, we create individual therapeutic plans.
02. Whole Family Approach
Our Flourishing Families programme supports building and maintaining relationships, establishing restorative values, increasing understanding and developing skills within the family unit working with the non-abusive parent and their child(ren). This is a tiered, mixed-therapy programme, combining pioneering group psychotherapy with one-to-one support, delivered by adult recovery workers, child recovery workers, and trained therapists.
Feedback from a parent notes: “SAFE have really helped our family heal, the girls are getting on so well now, they don’t fight and argue anymore. I can’t thank you (child’s keyworkersJ enough for that. It has helped our relationships, and the girl’ s relationships with their friends. My counselling has made me recognise how I am with the girls and the behaviours I mirrored from how my dad treated me. I have changed this, it’s been great.”
03. Eco-System Change
We believe that change is vital to support our families, our communities and our society as a whole. We are committed to innovation and working with partners to influence change and policies across Devon and beyond. In 2021, we launched our Felt Trauma Therapy® training for partner organisations – equipping more practitioners with the knowledge to identify the causes of Felt trauma and develop multi-tiered support responses for individuals. We will continue to develop and deliver ground-breaking trauma responsive projects to a wider cohort. We hope that others will join our movement for change.
Number of requests for support we received between 2020-21
Number of adults affected by childhood trauma in the UK
%
Number of people reporting increased emotional wellbeing and improved relationships
%
Increase in referrals between 2020-21
Annual Reports
2020
Our Trustees’ Annual Report from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. A year in which we responded to the impact of the pandemic and a dramatic rise in domestic abuse referrals. We end the year taking our Felt trauma approach to stakeholders, driving an ecosystem change at a local and national level.
2019
Our Trustees’ Annual Report from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. We made significant progress strengthening our governance, innovating our programming, investing in our team and building stronger partnerships both in Devon and further afield. We also launched our Flourishing Families project.
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.