Who We Support: Women Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Who We Support

Quetzal supports female survivors aged 16 and above living in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland to recover from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse.

As a child or a young person, female survivors of childhood sexual abuse were pressurised, forced or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity by an adult or another child.

They either or both experienced contact abuse where the perpetrators makes physical contact with the survivors and non-contact abuse where the perpetrators expose the child to activities with sexual connotations. In all, survivors experienced an abuse of power that have long lasting impacts on their physiology, mental health and the way they relate to themselves and others.

It first impacts their physiology as the brain has a specific response to trauma (flight, fight, freeze or flop mode). The long lasting repercussion on adult survivors includes the development of disorders born from trauma and maladaptive behaviours used to cope.

The disorders born from trauma include post-traumatic stress disorders, flashbacks, anxiety, panic attacks, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders. Female survivors also develop maladaptive behaviours to cope with their trauma. To cite a few it can include eating disorders, addiction, sleep problems, self-neglect, isolation, self-harm and suicidal ideation.

In the last 16 years, Quetzal supported 2,136 female directly across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, thanks to your help.

In 2020-2021, Quetzal received 261 referrals

Read 2020-2021 Key Figures Report

Quetzal statement of commitment to disabled users

Quetzal is fully committed to the elimination of unlawful and unfair discrimination. This is central to the delivery of our services, and we will take all reasonable actions to remove barriers to working for, or with Quetzal or accessing our service.

This is applicable to all employees, agency staff, clients, customers, communities, suppliers and contractors, whether permanent or temporary and applies to all processes and procedures relating to the operation of our charity including purchasing, service delivery, training, development and employment.

Quetzal Inclusive Service Policy

It is important to us that every client experiences the same high level of service from us. We therefore will make every effort to accommodate all reasonable requests for assistance from clients seeking to access the services that we offer.

To assist us to do this effectively we would be grateful that whenever possible clients contact us in advance to discuss specific needs.

If you would like to enquire about accessibility or make a specific request please contact us: 0333 101 4280

Our Commitment to our clients

We aim to provide an accessible service that all our clients can use and benefit from in a manner that respects their dignity and independence and promotes equal opportunity and choice.

Our aim is to provide an inclusive environment and we will make all efforts to remove any physical, sensory and intellectual barriers to people when accessing our services.

We will:

Consider the unique needs of each client: We will do our best to accommodate any reasonable adjustment requests you may make.
Take action to make our premises, facilities and services accessible: We will carry out regular assessments to identify potential barriers for our clients and make all possible reasonable adjustments to remove or minimise any barriers identified. Where adjustments to our building are not possible, we will secure an alternative venue for the client’s counselling which is more suitable.
Strive to meet best practice standards for access and inclusion. Our approach will be informed by best practice guidance promoting accessibility.
Train our Staff: During induction, all staff will be made aware of this policy and our commitment to accommodating reasonable adjustment requests.
Welcome assistance dogs.
Carry out effective monitoring and review: We will regularly monitor and review progress in relation to our commitments. We will keep track of how requests for reasonable adjustments from employees and clients are managed.
Encourage feedback: We will actively engage with customers in order to identify areas that require change and encourage service improvement.

Please contact us directly if you require accessible parking or step free entry. Our building has accessibility limitations however we have processes in place to limit the impact of these.