Who is the helpline for?

The helpline is for adult men (18 and over) who have experienced childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault / rape, as well as their partners and carers.  Sometimes callers may feel confused and are not sure if they have been sexually assaulted or not, but our helpline is still here to support you. 

We offer emotional support by telephone but if you call our helpline and we’re not the right service for you, we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.  We do not work with men who have sexually violated others.  We will support you in finding an alternative service that can help you both with this issue and your own experience of sexual violation.

If you’re a child or young person (under 18) who has experienced childhood sexual abuse please call Childline on 0800 11 11.   If you look on the Childline website there are also other ways to get help from a counsellor via email or web chat.

If you’re a professional calling about an enquiry

If you’re a professional making an enquiry about our service please contact via our office number 02074046234 (Monday – Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm)

How much does it cost to call the helpline?

Our helpline number is an 0845 number which is low cost from landlines.  If you’re calling from a mobile it may be more expensive depending on your network provider.  If this is difficult, when you get through please inform the helpliner of this and we can call you right back.  We won’t take a note of your telephone number for our records unless you give your permission. 

What happens when I call SurvivorsUK helpline?

We understand that it can be hard to pick up the phone for the first time and talk to someone you don’t know about your feelings and experiences.   Our helpliners are experienced in supporting you to talk about things at your own pace, when you’re ready.  We understand that you may not know what to say or how to start and may feel uncomfortable with silence, but our helpliners will put you at ease and support you in this.

When you call the helpline during the helpline hours, you’ll hear an initial pre-recorded message “You’re now being connected to SurvivorsUK helpline”.  Following this one of our helpliners will speak to you and may introduce themselves with their first name. 

The SurvivorsUK helpline currently has a maximum of 2 lines open during each shift, so if you don’t get through right away please call back again after a few minutes.

Do I have to go into detail about what happened to me?

There is no pressure to talk in any detail about what has happened to you, unless you want to do this.  Many callers find it easier to speak to someone on the phone anonymously rather than face to face, so a helpline can be very liberating for some people for this reason.  The phone call is under your control, so you can end the call at any time if you want to. 

How long will the call last?

The call can last up to 30 minutes, so that other callers can also get through to the helpline.  Some callers speak for a few minutes, others choose to use the full 30 minutes; some don’t speak at all - it’s entirely up to you. 

If you call just a few minutes before the helpline is closing you’ll only be able to speak to someone until the advertised helpline closing time, so this might be quite a short call, but you can call back again during helpline hours.

Can I call back again and speak to the same person?

You’re welcome to call the helpline whenever you feel you want someone to talk to.  We can’t guarantee that you will speak to the same helpliner and we don’t set up ongoing relationships between callers and helpliners.  

Who works on the helpline?

Our helpliners are all volunteers who have been through a thorough training before they start to take calls.  They are men and women from diverse backgrounds who have an interest in supporting men who have had any abusive sexual experience, or their partners and carers.  Our helpliners don’t disclose any personal details about themselves.

You can ask to speak to a helpliner of another gender than the person who answers your call initially and we’ll do our best to accommodate this if it’s possible.

What happens if I call outside of the helpline hours?

If you call outside of our helpline hours, you’ll get an answer-phone message telling you that our helpline is currently closed.  You can leave a message on this answer-phone and our helpliners will call you back during helpline hours.   Please state your telephone number and name clearly in the message.   We will only speak directly to the person that left the message, so if we call back and someone else answers the telephone we won’t give the name of our organisation.  We will try several times to call you back, but if you don’t hear from us please call again during helpline hours. 

Depending on how busy the helpline is, responding to messages on our answer-phone can take up to 2 weeks to call back and successfully make contact.

Is the call confidential?

We keep all information confidential within our organisation.  However, if you give us identifiable information in a call regarding a serious crime (such as terrorism) or about a child who may be at risk of harm, we may need to breach your confidentiality in order to keep other people safe.  If we’re able, we’ll inform you of this during your call, but this is not always possible as sometimes callers disclose such information and then ring off.

We also adhere to BACP guidelines as a service.

Are you concerned about a child currently being at risk of harm?

You may be calling the helpline because something happened to you recently or as a child, or you know of someone who has been abused.  If you know that there are children who have been harmed or who may be at risk from harm please contact the NSPCC helpline to discuss this in confidence on 0808 800 5000 24 hours per day.

If you have worrying thoughts about possibly harming a child yourself, please contact STOP IT NOW on 0808 1000 900

Do you take notes?

When you call our Helpline we take down some brief notes and statistical information so that we can learn about who is using our service and the level of need for our service.  If you give your name or your telephone number we will only take a note of this with your permission.

Are the calls recorded?

The calls are not recorded, but for training purposes and quality control we do listen into some calls.

Can you give legal advice?

Our service is a therapeutic support service only so we’re not able to give legal advice.  If you need an advocate or someone to support you with the legal process we would suggest the Citizens Advice or Victim Support.

Do you have any contact with the police?

We are involved with the police at a research and policy making level only.

What other services do you offer?

We have a London based counselling service, offering individual counselling and group therapy.  Please look in Sit down and Talk.

We take self referrals only for counselling.  You can make a referral via the Helpline, our website or by calling our office number.  All new referrals are responded to within 2 weeks.

What other kinds of help might I need?

If you’ve been sexually assaulted recently it may also be helpful to have a sexual health screening at your local GUM (genitourinary medicine) clinic.  They can support you in confidence.

A London based service is The Havens which specialises in supporting both men and women who have been sexually assaulted as young people and adults.  They support people within one year of their assault by offering sexual health screening and counselling.  The Havens in Whitechapel has a dedicated service for men and you can contact them directly on 0207 247 4787. 

If you go to the Havens you do not have to inform the police. The Havens are able to take samples and store them for several years so that you could decide at a later date if you want to pursue a criminal case.