First wellness retreat for grooming gang survivors "a resounding success"
Organisers have said it allowed victims to "rethink themselves"
A research project that supports victims of grooming gangs in the UK says its inaugural wellness retreat was a "resounding success".
Earlier this year, TSA raised £10,000 to take 10 female victims of grooming gang abuse for a weekend away at a country hotel in Oxfordshire.
TSA's aim is to "help bring the grooming gang crisis to an end, and to provide a space for healing, and hope for the future."
One participant shared: “It's good for survivors to come together because many of us have attachment issues — we have been let down by many people. It has been good to feel I can trust the people offering support because in the past people have abused our trust.”
According to the retreat's own rating system, participants rated their overall experience an 8.6 out of 10, with the quality of activities rated a 9.7, and the sense of support from the retreat team receiving a 9.5 rating.
Donna Rachel Edmunds, Director at TSA, commented: "There's a lot of feeling of isolation amongst survivors, so I figured that even being around other people would help with that. But I wasn't prepared for quite how profound an impact it had on some of the girls.
"One of the women who came on the course said to us that it allowed her to get in touch with the child she had been before her abuse - a young girl who just loved nature and loved creativity, and she just hadn't thought about that part of herself for so many years."
Activities included nature-based wellness activities, creative arts, movement-based activities, and social interactions, such as congregating round a fire pit for some hot chocolate.
Edmunds said: ""Play is an incredible therapeutic tool that I think is really, really underutilised. Playing with watercolour, playing with collage, that kind of thing, because it allows you to turn off your mind."