Men’s Peer Support Groups in Devon

At SAND we offer an easy referral to MoMENtum for all adult men seeking online peer-led group support for childhood sexual abuse and who are on our waiting list for counselling.

Contact Russell and John on info@momentumdevon.org.uk at 07773151080 or speak to Sarah at SAND for more information. To access individual counselling at SAND you still need to complete your referral and call Sarah on 07763617693 or email her at sand-referrals@survivingabuse.org.uk

All of our male referrals that have experienced historic childhood sexual abuse can be referred to MoMENtum; a mutual support organisation based in Exeter for male survivors of sexual abuse; which also offers peer support groups in Barnstaple.

 ‘We meet as equals for support and to gain an understanding of ourselves and to share information and resources. (https://www.momentumdevon.org.uk/)

‘As survivors ourselves, we know how difficult it can be to disclose sexual abuse and find the support you need. You will always be in control of what you say, we don’t pry, everything is at your pace and about healing from the effects of trauma and abuse.

We understand it may have been a long journey to get to this point today, viewing our website and if finding support and understanding in our society and services has not been easy, many of us have found that too and that’s why we are here. In the absence of support, we began to support ourselves now in our 8th year. We have all been abused but we meet because we want to heal, find joy and ease in our lives, to be ourselves and know what that is for us.’ John & Russell

“All of you are welcome here”

The part that really wants to be here, and the part that wishes you were somewhere else.

The part that knows and trusts yourself, and the part that doesn’t believe in yourself.

The part that stands up and defends yourself, and the part that gets walked over.

The part that knows and can express how you feel, and the part that blanks out, goes foggy, detaches.

Whatever you are feeling you are welcome here, your joy, your anger, your fear, your sadness, your shame.

Your yes and your no are welcome here.

Your experience and your knowledge as well as what you do not know, and your questions are welcome here.

Your doubts and your trust, your sceptical self and your hopeful self.

All of you are welcome here.

What moMENtum means to me  – testimonial

For over five years I have been in contact with moMENtum, and since November 2018 I’ve been attending their fortnightly group meetings in Exeter. This community of men has been incredibly important in my journey of recovery and healing. However, it took me a number of years before I felt able to join the group, because I was convinced that my experience of abuse and its effects was nowhere near as devastating as others. And I’ve struggled with this fact for such a long time, feeling that I do not even deserve to call my experience ‘abuse’, that I don’t deserve to belong to moMENtum, that I am unworthy of receiving support, that I am a fraud. All of these feelings, present for so many years, as well as feelings that it was all my fault, that it wasn’t that bad, that I should just move on, get over it, stop blaming others for my own failures etc etc, all of this has kept me feeling low, afraid, and almost permanently isolated.

Sorry, you don’t need or want to hear my life story. But what I really want to emphasise is how my moMENtum brothers have gently and lovingly drawn me out of this isolation and have brought me into a life-giving, trusting, compassionate, accepting, understanding, loving and safe community. All of us is welcome here: the frightened inner child(ren), the confused and anxious adolescent within us, the angry adult, the parts of us we know, the parts of us we are terrified of, the parts of us we are ashamed of, the parts of us desperate to be loved, we are all welcome and safe in the moMENtum family. This is a family where we can feel connected, where we can talk, listen, laugh, and cry; it is a family where we can all belong.

The trauma of childhood sexual abuse is so devastating because it causes you to hate yourself, to run away and cut yourself off from those who are longing to help you. A group such as moMENtum is absolutely vital because these men, these wounded, wonderful survivors, offer safety, community, and compassion. For so long in my life I have found hope to be a frightening thing, because hope has frequently fallen apart, collapsed and died. Since becoming part of the moMENtum family I can finally dare to hope, to hope that the darkness will end, to hope that life will begin, to hope that at last I belong. {client}