Sharing My Experience to Help Other Victims

The Foundation hosted seminars for professionals working the field of Emergency Response to hear from those affected by incidents about the support they received.  Five people affected by different conflicts spoke about their experiences, and what had happened to them in the intervening years.  Particular attention was given to support services, what worked well for them and what didn’t, so that professionals could take this learning and adapt their future provision.

For the speakers, the impact of the day was the ability to directly influence future service provision by sharing their experiences.  It was not easy to stand up in front of a room full of people and speak about one of the most painful experiences of their lives, but knowing that it would make a difference for other people in the future gave them the courage to do so.  Following the seminar one local authority decided to run training on the needs of children, and for the woman who had lost her father, this was a real boost to know telling her story had made a real difference.

“I believe by openly discussing these issues, it helps us better inform emergency planners of how they should support survivors or bereaved relatives.”

Susan Verghese, who was caught up in the London bombings, shared her experiences at the Foundation’s ‘Voices of Those Affected’ seminar and spoke about how professionals could improve their services for future victims.

“I’ve been involved in the wonderful work of the Foundation for a few years now. I came to know about the Foundation through another participant who had been involved in the same incident as me.

As a teacher I am interested in passing knowledge to people in order to improve their lives and I’ve had the opportunity to do this through various invitations from the Foundation to speak about my experience. I’ve informed emergency planners of my experience during conferences and talked about my experience to an International Youth group. All these opportunities to speak have helped me turn a negative into a positive. I believe by openly discussing these issues, it helps us to prevent violence and it also helps to better inform emergency planners of how they should support survivors or bereaved relatives.

Without the Foundation, I would have felt much more isolated and my story would have been untold and forgotten. By sharing my experience, I have not only regained my confidence but also positively helped to change future emergency planning.

There is no other charity in the UK doing this work and the commitment from the Foundation to deliver first rate programmes can be clearly seen as more and more participants get involved. The Peace Centre symbolises true hope for all who walk through those special doors”.