THE LANTERN PROJECT

The Lantern Project is a registered charity, based in Wallasey, Merseyside. Graham Wilmer, an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse, founded the organisation originally under the name ‘Victims No Longer’ in October 2000. In April 2003, with the support of fellow survivor, David Williams, the organisation was registered by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and changed its name to the Lantern Project on 5 December 2003. The Lantern Project currently has 5 trustees and more than 800 members. The Lantern Project is also a member of the Survivors Trust and is accredited with BACP.

WHAT WE DO: The organisation was set up to provide care, support and information for victims of childhood sexual abuse, in Wirral, Merseyside and the surrounding regions, to help improve their lives and the lives of their families. Using our own comprehensive understanding and experiences of the impact of childhood sexual abuse, we have developed a specialised therapeutic model, comprising counselling, information and practical support, with which we are able to help victims learn how to come to terms with what happened to them, and how to deal with the consequences and impact of the abuse they suffered. Our key objective is to help them to progress from being a victim to becoming a survivor, work which requires ongoing support for several years in most cases.

HOW WE WORK: We provide therapeutic peer support counselling, advocacy and practical help at our premises in Wirral, and through out-reach work. We also provide support by phone, e-mail and through our website. We also write and produce survival guides and information films, and we operate an interactive survivors' forum through our web site (www.lanternproject.org.uk), which is accessed on average 70,000 times every month. The web site contains over 10,000 pieces of information, covering all aspects of abuse and its impact, helpful to survivors and professionals alike.

WHO WE HELP: Since the Lantern Project was established, we have provided on-going counselling and support to more than 2000 individual victims of abuse, both male and female, aged between 16 and 65, who have made contact with us, either through the our web site, or as referrals from local NHS GP practices, Social Services, the Prison Service, the Probation Service, Drug and Alcohol services, sheltered housing associations, schools and Merseyside Police. We also deliver training and presentations on abuse related issues to local Social Services, GP practices and other agencies. We are currently working with around 380 cases, referred to us over the last 12 months, and we receive around 30 new enquiries each month.

We have developed close working arrangements with all of the agencies listed above, and we are considered by these agencies to be an vital resource they can refer victims to in safety, knowing that we will provide the specialist care and support that is needed, which in most cases enables the referring agencies, especially GPs, to manage their patients' clinical care more effectively, in terms of the time they spend with them and the likely recovery outcomes.