Jean Rochford spearheads new Downham Market group for survivors of child sexual abuse

A new group is aiming to give survivors of childhood sexual abuse a place to heal - with members calling for “no more silence”.

Spearheaded by Jean Rochford, it has been inspired by similar groups elsewhere in Norfolk which use art exhibitions in a bid to shed light on the topic.

Members display portraits of themselves, as well as small placards outlining their stories, to try and take back control from their abusers.

Jean will be hosting 90-minute meetings at the Eternity church in Downham on every third Wednesday of the month, from 7pm, starting from December.

This will give people the chance to enjoy a hot drink and discuss past traumas with other survivors - if that is what they want to do.

Meanwhile, the art exhibitions allow survivors to paint their own narrative.

“The portraits show us, the survivors, and we have them taken however we want them,” Jean told the Lynn News.

“They are all totally different, because they all had their own ideas.

“When you are sexually abused as a child, you were forced to do stuff that you shouldn’t have done. So what I do now is give people options.”

Jean previously attempted to set up a similar group in 2018, but admits she has learned some valuable lessons about what works and what does not.

She has spoken with similar groups across Norfolk and Suffolk, and has picked up some useful ideas.

The new Downham group will be the first of its kind in West Norfolk, and she believes this is a sign that more must be done in the borough to support victims.

“I think it is very important in the sense that some people need to know they are not on their own,” Jean added.

“No more silence, because we are fed up with being silenced.

“Quite a lot of people haven’t survived. That is why people need to talk about it - because so many people get illnesses, physical as well as mental.

“They tried to silence me, and I have just got more and more determined that I won’t be silenced.”

The new group’s portraits were displayed in an exhibition at the Eternity church on November 9, and members hope to create even more moving forward.

Jean’s own placard describes the difficulties she faced when attempting to tell others about her abuse, claiming that a GP set her back “for years” by not taking her seriously.

It says she feels that “education, course content and training of trauma professional” does little to help victims.

“Once we find that space to start healing, we start to challenge those practices,” it adds.

If you need support as a survivor of sexual violence or abuse, visit https://thesurvivorstrust.org/national-helplines/ for a directory of national helplines.