Survivor small groups

At last, after many years of searching, I have found ‘my people’. Friends who have been through abuse, who struggle with the same things that I do. That have the same questions about faith that I do. They have been struck down and have risen again like I have. But now, instead of being a small voice, commonly misunderstood. I am now part of a group, a growing army of Survivors who can say ‘me too’, ‘that happened to me’, ‘I understand without explaining’. I have been able to bring my vulnerabilities because at last I have found a safe space.

— Survivor attending small group —

I have found a safe space where my fellow Survivors have encouraged and built each other up. I have found the power of ‘me too’ incredible. We have found common ground in many areas of our lives. We have been able to express ourselves in ways that we never could before.

— Survivor attending small group —

This group has been life changing, so precious, like an anchor. The group lifts up my head and gives me strength for another week.

— Survivor attending small group —

I prayed, I despaired of ever finding community......then in a late-night desperate search on the internet for help for Christian women who survive domestic abuse.....I found Restored. I wept with relief, I took a risk and called out to them.... the light became stronger, strong enough for me to see the next step........then, slowly, others came and sat with me.... they offered no judgment, just compassion and understanding. In their nods and words I found acceptance.

— Survivor attending small group —

I was loved, cared for, seen and heard. I understood for the first time that I wasn’t alone, I’m not alone, my experience isn’t unique, I am part of a sisterhood....I belong. Restored are part of God's plan for healing and restoration for me and my life. They are my people. I thank my God every single day for them.

— Survivor attending small group —

It has meant friendship, support and understanding from an amazing, diverse group of women, each of whom can walk with me along this path of pain in a way that those who have not travelled it cannot.

We have shared agony, despair, fun and laughter; hopes, fears and plans. We have shared our lives in a way I did not think possible. I came to the group with low expectations, feeling that I was too old, that I would not fit in to any group, and that I did not deserve to have a place.

I have been heard, accepted and loved. The group have listened and shared, as we have learned together, travelling forward in tiny steps, so that I find to my astonishment I have moved from where I was to a new place. Not everything is healed, not everything is ‘better’, but there is progress; I am valued, and I shall always know that there are other people out there who ‘get it’.

— Survivor attending small group —