Olympic e-gold for Stratford - Stratford Herald

14
Midweek Herald Tuesday 26th March, 2013
Lydia speaks out as an
ambassador for the
victims of sex abuse
A WARWICK woman who suffered
years of sexual abuse as a child is
speaking out in an effort to
encourage others to seek help.
Lydia Ward says the support she
received from Warwickshire charity
Safeline, which helps survivors of
sexual abuse and rape, including
childhood abuse, has turned her life
around, even empowering her to
start her own business as a confidence
coach.
Miss Ward is the first official
Safeline ambassador, a position
which will see her take her story into
the community, raising awareness of
sexual abuse, giving hope to survivors,
and helping to generate
donations for a cause which finds
itself desperately under-funded. Her
work will involve going into schools,
giving talks to local organisations
and generally raising the profile of
the charity.
Lindsey Lavender, chief executive
of Safeline, which supported 400
survivors of abuse alone last year
through a confidential service of
one-to-one counselling, group
therapy, a free helpline and outreach
work, said: “Statistical evidence
shows that one in four females
and one in six males are sexually
abused and/or raped at some point
in their lives and these are only the
reported cases. For many compelling
reasons, victims find it
incredibly difficult to disclose what
has happened to them, hence not
being able to move on from
remaining a ‘victim’ to becoming a
‘survivor.’ This is where Lydia
comes in as Safeline’s first ambassador,
assisting Safeline in its awareness
building campaign.
“We are so grateful to Lydia for
●Spreading the word. . .Safeline’s first ambassador, Lydia Ward,
right, with the charity’s chief executive, Lindsey Lavender.
speaking out about her experience
and giving the strong example that
there is hope of a better life after
abuse.”
It was not until she was 32-yearsold
that Miss Ward had the courage
to confide in her parents about what
had happened to her as a child: “I
had a marketing career which took
me around the world and, on the
surface, things were fantastic, but I
was struggling to cope with
everyday life.
“Like many survivors, I had spent
years blocking out my experience
and trying desperately to stay in
control, but things began to unravel
and I had a breakdown.”
Despite having sought counselling
in the past, she feels Safeline provided
a unique counselling experience,
setting itself apart from other
counselling agencies, with their specially-trained
counsellors who
enabled her to finally reclaim her
identity and take the power back
from her abusers.
Since then, Miss Ward has
launched her own life coaching
organisation, Velvet Evolution, with
consulting rooms in both Warwick
and Leamington.
“Abuse is a devastating experience,
you lose much of who you are
but Safeline’s very real support has
truly given me ‘me’ back. I’m living
proof that there is real hope for the
future,” she said.
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