A specialist team are helping organisations to identify and support people who have suffered from trauma, including vulnerable women working in prostitution and people experiencing domestic violence.
The South East Essex Trauma Alliance is a psychological service led by Essex Partnership University NHS Trust (EPUT).
The team consists of a psychotherapist and psychologists, who currently work with 34 organisations across south east Essex, including charities and healthcare and social care providers.
They train and support organisations to identify people who have experienced trauma and understand the impact it has on their health and wellbeing.
This helps organisations to better understand their individual needs in a compassionate and supportive way. This helps people to feel safe in seeking help and to feel able to make decisions about their health and wellbeing.
The Southend Street Prostitution Strategy is one of the projects the Alliance is working on, and organisations across the area are working together to support women who sell sex.
Kerry Mayers, Consultant Counselling Psychologist and Psychological Services lead for the South East Essex Trauma Alliance, said: “We have a strong partnership with the charity Aspirations and Southend City Council on this project.
“We seek to understand the health needs of women who sell sex, and we work closely with other services to help them understand how to support women who have experienced trauma.
“Research shows that women are more likely to leave the sex trade when they feel they are properly supported.
“The first step of that is taking care of themselves and taking care of their health.
“Services have a responsibility to enable that, through ensuring every vulnerable woman can feel seen and heard and valued as a human being.
“If women are not met with compassionate support and understanding of their traumatic experiences, then their trust is immediately broken. This is why we work with organisations to help them find ways to help support women who are living with trauma.”
We work with key local agencies including Brook Sexual Health Clinic, Probation Services, community policing teams, and drug and alcohol services.
The partnership project has gained national recognition. Last year the team talked about their work at a Parliamentary Conference that shared best practice of healthcare and representatives from EPUT’s Psychological Services, Aspirations, and Southend City Council also gave a presentation at the King’s Fund Women’s Healthcare Conference.
This week (3 to 9 March) is NO MORE Week, an annual international opportunity to come together to raise awareness of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Kerry said: “NO MORE Week is an important opportunity for coming together to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence and highlight the help available to those in need.
“It’s an opportunity to empower voices often marginalised and discriminated against.”