Introducing The Lotus Project
From 6 to 12 February is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week – the UK’s annual initiative to raise awareness and to promote dialogue and support of sexual abuse and sexual violence.
Calan DVS would like to mark this awareness initiative by introducing the Lotus Project – a new sexual violence support service launched by Calan DVS in 2022 and which has been co-produced with survivors and stakeholders.
With the tag line: Safety Empowerment Evolution Knowledge. this project has been implemented to provide support to individuals accessing Calan Domestic Abuse services and who have also experienced Sexual Violence.
The Lotus Project operates from a trauma informed, strength-based perspective, ensuring each survivor has consistent yet individualised support throughout their recovery journey.
The Lotus Project Programmes
Every survivor who accesses the project will have the opportunity to receive specialist support through our Sexual Violence Counselling service, tailor made group work programmes and one to one support. Survivors will have regular strength-based goal setting sessions with their Sexual Violence Support Worker.
Support offered by the Lotus Project is as follows:
- A 12-week group programme providing a safe environment to understand victims’ experience of trauma whilst connecting with others. We offer a space where there is no blaming, no shaming and no judgement.
- One-to-one support holds a space for victims to learn about grounding and stabilisation techniques such as flashbacks, nightmares and disassociation. It’s where you can talk about your experiences in a way that feels safe for you and focusses on you and your hopes and dreams for the future. Support is designed to build on an individual’s resilience and strength, with the empowerment to move towards them.
- Sexual abuse counselling is for those who are ready to start their counselling journey and includes up to 12 sessions of counselling via zoom or teams. Our trained counsellors provide therapies such as EMDR and Rewind which can help to address the symptoms of trauma whilst also being able to create a space for victims to talk through their feelings and experiences.
Consultations and collaborative working are at the heart of working in a trauma informed way, therefore the Lotus Project will continue to be developed alongside the support staff and survivors who access the service.