**Trigger warning** Discussion of sexual trauma.

[Shameandregret]

I hope this is the right place to put this, I've had some amazing advice on a personal level from here and I kind of don't know where else to put a discussion. This place has been a really integral part of my recovery journey. Please report if you think this post is inappropriate and should be removed. I expressly do not want to trigger or upset anyone.

So, I am in a funny position. This bit of personal background might put into context why I'm interested in taking this forward, but it is very much an idea at the moment. I have had it rough, I have been raped by two different abusers, one historical child sex abuse, one in my abusive marriage (physical, sexual, emotional and financially abusive) I am out of that marriage now (my old user name was weedinthepool). I am going through the criminal justice system at the moment for the historical abuse child as I was one of several victims. I have had therapy interventions from rape crisis, a psychiatrist and domestic abuse services.

I have worked and been a trainer for Children's Social Care (background Social Work, Education) and I am currently doing a PhD in Psychology.

So, I am interested in setting up a (very) small service in my local area (on completion of my PhD) focusing on recovery after sexual trauma. Female service users, female staff. It will be a small, residential, outcomes based unit. I have researched and resourced the following and come up with rough headings:

Psychological Recovery Pathway
Health Recovery Pathway
Holistic Well-being Recovery Pathway
Future Recovery Pathway

I have looked into the safeguarding (this is the most important aspect to me), training and policy & procedures. I have thought about referral pathways, training, funding and commissioning. I have also looked at what is out there in a similar vein. I have found very very little in the UK.

Please could I ask for your thoughts? Do you think this service is SMART? Does anyone know of similar resources? Is this utterly stupid and should I put it on my huge scrap heap of stupid ideas that have come out of my addled brain?

Sorry for the long post!

It's not stupid at all. It's hard to comment on whether it's SMART without knowing exactly what you would offer and how you would go about it. Are you able to explain further or are you not at the fine detail stage yet?

Have you thought about funding? Is it a charity you want to set up or will you be charging service users?

It's sounds really worthwhile and I can see how your personal experience will motivate you to make this a success. Don't neglect the financial side of this; that's the easiest way for this to fail.