Annual Report - 2009
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT
2009
From: 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2009
The Lantern Project
Supporting victims of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, racial abuse and bullying
Registered Charity No. 1097265
8 Atherton Street
Wallasey
Wirral
CH45 2NY
Phone: 0151 638 7015
Email: lanternproject@yahoo.co.uk
Web: www.lanternproject.org.uk
TRUSTEES OFFICE DATES ACTED
Mr Peter Green Chair Full year
Mrs Barbara Wilmer Vice-Chair Full year
Mr Graham Wilmer MO/Secretary 01/01/09 – 09/10/09
Mr David Williams Treasurer Full year
Mrs Bhupinder Virdee-Lace Full year
Mr Keith Le-Poidevan Full year
Mr Mathew Byrne 01/01/09 – 23/09/09
The Lantern Project’s Governing Document is a Constitution
The Lantern Project is a Charitable Unincorporated Association
The Lantern Project’s Trustees are elected at AGM
Summary of the objects of the Lantern Project
The Charity's objects ("the objects") are to provide for the relief of sickness and distress arising there from and to advance the education amongst men, women and young people in Merseyside and neighbouring regions, in particular, but not exclusively, those who have suffered from sexual abuse, domestic abuse, racial abuse or bullying in childhood and/or adolescence or as adults, by any means which are charitable within the law as the Trustees determine.
Summary of the main activities
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 6 trustees and more than 800 members. The Lantern Project is also a member of the Survivors Trust.
WHAT WE DO: The organisation was set up to provide care, support and information for victims of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, racial abuse and bullying, in Wirral, Merseyside and the surrounding regions, to help improve their lives and the lives of their
families. Through personal understanding, counselling and practical support, 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
embark on the journey from being a victim to becoming a survivor.
HOW WE WORK: We provide peer support counselling and practical help at our premises in Wirral and through out-reach work, and contact support by phone and e-mail. We also produce survival guides and we operate an interactive 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, helpful to survivors and professionals, plus a forum and message service that enables survivors to support each other.
WHO WE HELP: Since the Lantern Project was established, we have provided on-going counselling and support to victims of abuse, both male and female, who have made contact with us, either through the our web site, or as referrals from local NHS GP practices, Social
Services in Wirral and Merseyside, the Prison Service the Probation Service, Drug and Alcohol services and homeless shelters. We also deliver training and presentations on abuse related issues to local Social Services, GP practices and other agencies.
REGULATION AND REPORTING: We are members of the BACP and the Survivors Trust.
Our accounts are prepared by Wirral based Chartered Accountants, The Priory Partnership, and we are regulated by the Charity Commision for England and Wales.
Statutory declaration: In carrying out these activities, the Lantern Project Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit and believe that they have therefore complied with their duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006.
Summary of the main achievements of the Lantern Project during 2009.
2009 REVIEW
Supported by core funding from Wirral PCT and Government Equalities Office, together with other private donations, the Lantern Project continued to provide direct therapeutic and advocacy support to more than 1000 victims of sexual offending, locally and nationally, either through our counseling facility in New Brighton, Wirral, or through our prison outreach service. Our web site also provided information and support to a further 28,000 individuals, who accessed the site more than 600,000 times during the year. Our Survivors Forum was also used by more than 800 registered members, with up to 160 members using the forum at the same time on occasions. During the year, we have worked very successfully in partnership with our local authority, Social Services, GP practices, the Prison Service, the Probation Service, Merseyside Police and local drug and alcohol treatment services.
UTD - OUR THERAPEUTIC MODEL
Working with victims of childhood sexual abuse is challenging, and can sometimes be frustrating due to the paucity of provision within the NHS of suitably qualified therapists who fully understand the lifelong impact of childhood psychosexual trauma.
Victims are often reluctant to disclose what has happened to them for fear of not being believed, or being ridiculed as a consequence, which is why it is estimated by police that only 5% of victims make a complaint, yet the scale of abuse is huge; current government statistics, based on accepted prevalence rates for sexual abuse, tell us there are at least 5.1 million women and 2.5 million men who are adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the UK – more than 7.6 million survivors in all.
Based on our own personal experiences of abuse, and the testimonies of the hundreds of victims we have helped since the project began, we have developed a recovery framework for working with victims, based on an interactive therapeutic approach, which gradually enables
victims to disclose the trauma they have suffered without re-traumatising them in the process. This model, which we call unstructured therapeutic disclosure (UTD), is proving highly
effective with victims of all ages (the age range of the victims we have worked with is from 16 to 70), allowing them to come to terms with their past and develop more effective coping strategies to help them build a sustainable recovery.
TESTIMONIAL
Our initial contact with the Lantern Project dates back to when HMP Buckley Hall was a women’s prison. It had been hoped that work could be undertaken with the women, but unfortunately before this could happen the prison was changed back to a male establishment.
However, so impressed had we been during our earlier contact with the Lantern Project, that we sought permission from senior management at Buckley Hall to investigate the possibility of the Project returning to the prison to work with adult male survivors of sexual abuse (of which we were already discovering a significant number).
Following lengthy negotiations, meetings, security clearances, and appropriate training on prison awareness, Graham Wilmer and David Williams began working with prisoners in October 2008. An information sheet was sent to all prison staff outlining the work of the Lantern Project within the prison setting.
To say that we have been impressed by the Lantern Project would be an understatement. Their knowledge, sensitivity, awareness of the prison setting, and commitment to the work has been exceptional. They have also been prepared to offer advice to staff and share their knowledge.
Since October 2008 The Lantern Project has had contact with 37 prisoners. Length of contact has varied from a one-off meeting, up to and including ongoing contact for over a year and in one case for the past two years. All are seen individually, and we have been amazed at the positive impact the sessions have had on the participating prisoners. In addition to face to face contact, prisoners have also been offered a telephone link to the Lantern Project as and when required (which is facilitated via the chaplaincy department). This offers personal, ongoing support between the formal sessions.
Rev. Gill Berry
Co-Ordinating Chaplain
HMP Buckley Hall.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Statement of the Lantern Project’s policy on reserves.
All funds donated to the Lantern Project by individuals, or awarded by funding bodies, both restricted and unrestricted, are used for the purposes outlined in the summary of our main activities. We therefore do not accrue reserves for the purpose of generating additional income through investment, endowment or interest bearing savings, however, the trustees ensure that there are always sufficient funds available to cover direct overhead costs.
FUNDING
Since April 2003, we have received grant funding from Neighbourhood
Renewal Community Chest, Awards For All, Merseyside Expanding Horizons, Community Champions, The Gannett Foundation, The Estate of the late Countess of Sefton, Wirral Social Services, The Salesians of Don Bosco, Wirral NHS Primary Care Trust, Government Equalities Office, Wirral CVS and private donations.
DECLARATION
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the Lantern Project’s trustees
Rory Wilmer
Name: Rory Wilmer
Position: Project Manager
Date: 23/09/10
The Lantern Project's accounts for this period can be viewed on the Charity Commission's web site http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/
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