We would like to invite survivors of childhood sexual abuse to join this research project. The project is the first social, cultural and medical history into recovery from childhood sexual abuse in the second half of 20th century Britain and Ireland. Even though child sexual abuse is not an illness, recovery is spoken about in a language borrowed from medicine.
We want to learn from the experiences of survivors and practitioners about the many ways that survivors live with the aftermath of child sexual abuse. Our aim is to do research that will support the building of a CSA survivor archive, and that will explore methods of support beyond medication and therapy.
We welcome participation from anyone who has lived through child sexual abuse. We particularly welcome underrepresented survivors, for example on the basis of ethnic or cultural identity, class, immigration status, language proficiency, gender identity, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity, or homelessness. You are not required to be supported by an organisation to take part in the research.
The research has received ethical approval from Birkbeck. It is co-produced with, and supervised by a Lived Experience Advisory Group, which is facilitated by Survivors Voices.
The research explores the following research questions:
How have public, activist and professional perceptions of what makes ‘good recovery’ altered between 1950-2022?
How do victim-survivors understand their experiences of trauma and recovery following CSA?
In what ways have practitioners’ attitudes, feelings and practices in relation to the concepts of trauma, recovery and healing after CSA changed over time?
How do models of recovery connect to structural constraints?
What’s needed from participants:
The project is currently recruiting survivors and practitioners to take part in oral histories, interviews, and participant observations. It also welcomes collaboration with organisations that hold existing research data to explore ethical re-use. Participants will be offered support by Survivors Voices (phone peer support and collective peer support).
If you would like to get involved, email the project team at recovery-histories@bbk.ac.uk
About the researcher:
Dr Adeline Moussion Esteve is a member of the Recovery Histories project and previously worked on the Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters (SHaME) research project.