Speaking about it isn’t’ ‘I want to make a difference by educating professionals who let me down in the past’

ELICIA, 19, is studying for a degree in counselling in the hope of helping other child survivors of sexual abuse.

“I’m passionate because I’m a survivor of child sexual exploitation, which began when I was eight,” she explained.

“I want to make a difference in society and educate professionals who have let me down in the past and support young people going through these events in a different way. We want to show that we can be powerful and strong and won’t be silent any more. Within Reign we all have different qualities and offer something different which makes Reign work.

“We want to make sure professionals are getting the right knowledge, that what may appear to be signs of normal teenage behaviours are actually signs of abuse.

“Further down the line we want to look at sentences that perpetrators are getting, we feel they aren’t long enough.

“Child sexual exploitation affects you emotionally, mentally and physically - yet so many sentences don’t reflect that, and that’s not justice.

“Just because we went through something difficult it won’t define what we do next. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning for us.

“People who are abused are so scared they won’t be believed.

“We want to tell people you are believed, you aren’t alone, we want to make change.”