Since 2012, We Are Survivors has offered a range of support services within the prison estate. These have included our Safe Room sessions (facilitated both monthly and weekly), art therapy groups, and 1:1 trauma-informed therapy, similar to what we provide in the community.
Over the past four years, our OUT Spoken Talking Therapy Service, based within the North West prison estate, has continued to grow. This service is designed to help individuals understand the impact of unresolved trauma, address maladaptive coping mechanisms, and explore how their past experiences may be connected to their offending behaviour, all of which support rehabilitation.
The OUT Spoken service offers two core therapeutic approaches: Healing Steps (10 sessions) and Break The Silence (up to 20 sessions). These trauma-informed therapies are specifically tailored to each client’s needs. For some individuals, the prison environment may not be conducive to processing difficult experiences. The isolation of a locked cell and the overstimulating nature of the prison wing can hinder meaningful engagement in therapy.
However, for others, the structure we provide, where our therapists visit them every week and other prison services support their journey, can make prison an ideal space for this work. Our team prioritises the individual needs of each client, working flexibly to ensure therapy is delivered in a way that feels right for them.
Here are a few words from some of our OUT Spoken clients, reflecting on their experience of trauma-informed therapy while in custody:
“Thank you for getting to the bottom of me. It’s only taken 20 odd years! Thank you for all you have done from start to finish. It has really helped me to understand and speak about it all as it had, in the past, broken myself and all of the family.”
“I have finally accepted the abuse that has happened was no fault of mine at all and I was not to blame.”
“The skills I have been taught by my counsellors from OUT Spoken – We Are Survivors really hit home last week and it signalled to me a major shift in myself – the most positive and significant in 17 years.”
