The Diocese of Durham recognises that many victims and survivors may not wish to contact church representatives directly. There are a number of ways in which support can be accessed from outside of the church
If you would like additional support, you can also contact Safe Spaces, which is a free and independent support service, providing a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused by someone in the Church or as a result of their relationship with the Church of England.
As an alternative, you can contact MACSAS, which supports women and men who have been sexually abused, as children or adults, by ministers, clergy or others under the guise of the Church.
There is also Survivors Voices, a survivor-led organisation that runs peer support groups for victim-survivors of all kinds of abuse, including faith-based abuse. It has a newsletter and other special events for survivors of abuse experienced in churches and other faith-based communities.
You may also wish to visit the House of Survivor website. This site has been published by two members of the Survivor Reference Group who are Survivors of Church of England based abuse. Its purpose is to provide helpful information for fellow Church abused survivors in various aspects of understanding or interaction with the Church and/or its representatives (legal, insurance, etc.).
If you are a survivor of Church of England-related abuse and are in need of urgent or immediate support, please take a look at the Interim Support Scheme.