Sarah Summers wins Single Sex provision for r*pe support in Brighton & Hove

Well I had to come back to the thread to say thank you for all the lovely messages. I am on holiday in Wales so unfortunately no cocktails in a massive coconut but I did come across this beautiful field of sunflowers 🌻

Frustratingly some of the press articles have continued to misrepresent the case so I will be putting across my side of things soon.

I'm too late for a further edit but sorry, I meant to acknowledge that @SerafinasGoose had already made the point about @IamSarah's legal team. It's worth saying it twice though!

Just to add, I don't think it's unreasonable to be looking ahead at potential pitfalls but a) I imagine @IamSarah took advice from her legal team before reaching this decision and b) if some fears do turn out to be founded then I hope they won't be seen as Sarah's problem to fix.

Editing in case I wasn't clear: I've no idea whether Sarah would choose to stay in the fight or not. If she does then that's brilliant, I just wanted to say that, as far as I'm concerned, she's already done more than enough and that I don't believe any future problems are her responsibility.

Utterly ridiculous that a rape charity has to be forced into begrudgingly offering single sex services for women. Well done and thank you Sarah.

Hope you have a fabulous holiday featuring massive brightly coloured cocktails in coconuts.

Thank you @IamSarah for your courage, resilience and tenacity in a situation you never should have faced in the first place. You deserve your holiday relaxation and I hope you have support around you now that the pressure is off and you finally have the space to process your trauma. Having a fight on your hands and a strong desire to make things better for others is a positive channel after what has happened, but once that’s over the after effects can kick in so do take great care of yourself.

As for the outcome, the only recourse to justice via the civil courts is monetary compensation. In foregoing this you’ve won something so valuable: a better deal so that female survivors - the demographic who are overwhelmingly the statistic falling victim to this particular trauma - have the space to heal. But perhaps even more important is the winning of hearts and minds. In the wake of the SC judgement you have to hope other service providers are watching and taking note of the prevailing winds.

The legal counsel advising you is the best in the business, so if Naomi Cunningham has recommended you to settle under these terms I’d trust her advice before I’d trust pretty much anyone else’s.

So glad your ordeal is over ❤️

I saw the headlines and just want to say thank you - utterly inspirational Sarah

Ditto!

So pleased too Sarah hasn't signed an NDA. I imagine that aspect was hard won. Looking forward to hearing more after a well deserved break. I do share some of the concerns about the "pilot" but really hope that with the same level of support (and eyes wide open going into this) these concerns can be allayed.

Congratulations Sarah! Thank you for your courage in fighting this battle which was not just for yourself but on behalf of many others. It’s been a long, hard road but I’m glad you got there without the ordeal of court. Enjoy your holiday!

Yes @Theswiveleyeballsinthesky The lengths some people will go to to justify the parenting choices they have made 😩

I felt like I had a good chance of winning the case but the judge could only have awarded me compensation, not ordered SN to run a single sex group.

I'm a bit late to this news but it sounds like @IamSarah has passed over the opportunity for personal compensation (which she'd have been fully entitled to as far as I'm concerned) and fought for a solution that benefits other women.

Thank you @IamSarah for your courage and your resilience. Well done and I hope you manage to put your feet up on holiday.

So in order to show support for her child's trans identity, the CEO upended single sex services for actual rape survivors 😳

Helen Joyce was so spot on with the chilling effect

It's legal to exclude transmen who pass as men if there's a good reason for it. Such as traumatising other women in the group. The Supreme Court raised this possibility. As long as they offer other group(s) that transmen can join it should be OK.

I'm not sure if there is really a legal basis for the existing group for women + transwomen, or the group for men + transmen, but as long as no-one complains it's probably OK.

A four-year legal campaign after which they caved in and offered the service following a Supreme Court decision and seemingly the resignation of the CEO...

... that is quite a "row"!

Eh well. Onwards and upwards.

I am curious as to the rationale - and potentially legality - of the new service excluding transmen, as well as transwomen, if that part of the BBC report is accurate.

I suppose that covers the ground but describing the lack of a proper single sex service and Sarah’s brave campaign to reinstate provision as a ‘row’ is dismissive and minimising of the seriousness of the issue.

Well here's the BBC's take.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgp558qkz0o

Well done Sarah, you are amazing! This is fantastic news for all women survivors of sexual abuse in Brighton and Hove (myself included) that now have somewhere to go where they are supported in a safe, single sex space. This is huge and a lot can be achieved in 12 months; leading to a more permanent set up. Enjoy your well deserved break.

I’m so pleased to hear this.

it looks like there has been a change of leadership. The former CEO Jay Breslaw who i believe was very TWAW, stopped working for them last year, according to her linked in. Their website doesn’t say who is now in that role.

I haven’t signed a NDA and have plenty more to say about it but I’m actually on holiday atm having a well deserved break!

have a fabulous holiday and very well done 💞

Women don't often get unequivocal wins and even a court case might lead to a grudging and punitive kind of victory and not a willing one. Some things about the Sussex set-up might still be technically illegal (not sure that there is a legal foundation for the existing "women plus TW" group) but at least they're promising to pay attention to the law and government guidance even if it's only for the pilot and not the whole service yet. I guess they're not ready to admit in public that the existing group might be illegal.

The juggernaut is turning though I agree there are no guarantees to how this will turn out. Could the "Sexual Violence Needs Assessment" they mention be a good place for women to raise the points that @OvaHere and @PriOn1 have made about the pilot?

https://survivorsnetwork.org.uk/legal-challenge-update/

"The Office of Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner (OSPCC) will provide funding for the 12-month pilot which will be developed in line with the latest Government guidance to ensure it operates within the law. We will also be using the evidence gained from the Sexual Violence Needs Assessment, that is currently being developed, do feel welcome to contribute – if you need any further information on this please contact the OSPCC [email protected]. "

That's how I'm reading it. It allows SN to back down with some sense of dignity (I know I know, they didn't think of Sarah's dignity) intact. They run the "pilot" (like we need a pilot to demonstrate women prefer single sex survivors groups) it works and they can say to the TRA haranguing them "look we have evidence it's needed". It's infuriating but sometimes it's the only way

I hope you have a great holiday @IamSarah and I look forward to hearing more when you return.

I hope the concerns others express prove to be unfounded, but I do share them. From the outside, this looks like a group that has dragged their feet throughout has given way because they can see there were no other options. It sounds incredibly grudging, though I have seen your posts on Twitter, Sarah, and you seem optimistic and say you are now working with them. I hope they have truly had a change of heart and genuinely want to help women.

It will be interesting to see whether there is any backlash. This has been announced at a time when it is completely overshadowed by the Fife case, so it may not get the attention it would normally have done.

Sorry if others think this comment is another damp squib on a thread that ought to be all positivity, but this does not sound like the unequivocal win for women that I would like to have seen. I do know that you (Sarah) have always been a reluctant player in all this horror (understandably) though, so I am glad for you that you will finally get the help you need without going to court.

Congratulations Sarah

I'm suspicious of this pilot business. Really single sex in rape crisis should be the standard with mixed as an add on if people want it.

I feel like it needs keeping an eye on.

Will they be advertising this pilot single sex group widely? Will they do outreach to find the women who purposely stayed away before? Will women who do reach out to them be offered it as standard or will they only mention it if individual women speak up about being offered the mixed sex group (that they might not realise is mixed sex)?

Is there a target number of women who need to use it within the 12 months to justify it's existence and further funding.

Until we find out what happens after 12 months it's a temporary victory although I appreciate Sarah is no doubt very pleased with the outcome.

So many short term funded projects go nowhere after the initial period of funding. Evidencing and meeting unmet need in hard to reach populations (in this case traumatised women who lack trust in the previous system) is notoriously difficult in a short time frame.

If not done properly or if the initial funded period is just not long enough it could end up providing OSPCC with evidence that allows them to shut it down after 12 months in a way that can't easily be won going back through the judicial process because the pilot showed slow or low take up. Not necessarily because the need isn't there but due to successful projects needing longer lead times and a lot of skilful outreach.

Stepping outside of this particular battle for a moment social care/VCS has a graveyard of good projects that fell foul of the limited time and budgets they were allocated to prove their worth.