We work with all forms of sexual abuse regardless of who, where, how many, and frequency and type.
Your healing journey will be unique to you within the framework that SALT uses, which is about looking at how we can equip the adult you are now, to feel able to allow the past (traumatised child) to come into your todays little by little to be healed. This is not about ‘going back’ (regression) to a powerless traumatic place, but allowing the trauma (child) to come to an equipped adult who can help them. Lots more information will be given to you at an informal and/or your assessment, and the skills sessions will begin to fill in the gaps.
Referrals
Phone: 01752 600599
Email: email@saltsouthwest.co.uk
Mobile (text only – incoming calls not accepted): 07469200256
Please note that we do not accept referrals from third parties
On receipt of your referral we will contact you (via the same channel you have contacted us) to ensure we are the right service for you. As there may be a waiting list, you will be offered an informal appointment to come and have a tea/coffee, meet us, and see where we are as well as chat through any immediate needs, which we might be able to support you with. You are free to either accept or decline this informal: either way your details will remain on the waiting list.
You will be invited in for a formal assessment when your name comes to the top of the waiting list, and this assessment will take approximately one hour, covering some history (no triggering details required), the SALT process, and any questions you may have.
If it is decided together that continuing with therapy is the right and appropriate thing for you at this time, you will be offered a place on the next available psychoeducational skills sessions. There are four of these sessions and all four need to be attended in order to then continue onto personal sessions. Please see Psychoeducational Skills Sessions for further information and detail of these.
After you have attended all four skills sessions, you will be offered the next available appointment for personal sessions and will be allocated two listeners. All of our listeners access on-going in-house and external training, and you will stay with the same two listeners for the rest of your time with SALT wherever possible. Your listeners will continue to support you through your healing journey and are able to hear whatever you need to share. They are aware of multiple tools that may suit you in your process, and will bring insight and suggestions to help you feel equipped and supported enough to engage with your trauma. While personal sessions are ‘open-ended’ (i.e., there is no limit to the amount you can have), your listeners will support you through an evaluation at every 7th session to ensure everyone is going in the right direction for you. After three lots of seven sessions your listeners will suggest taking a therapy break to allow for space to let things settle in internally, as you will experience many changes along your process. If further sessions are needed your listeners will arrange this with you before you take a break.
We appreciate that accessing a service like SALT can feel very scary and maybe intimidating too for a variety of reasons, so some comments from previous service users might help you to feel hopeful about the process:
‘I never believed so much could change in a deep place so quickly – it hasn’t taken years!’
‘I’ve had therapy before but nothing like this. It has and is scratching where my pain itches.’
‘This has been such a challenging process but worth every minute! My family agree ?’
‘I can’t thank you all at Salt enough. It’s been a game changer.’
‘I know I’m not done, and it’s been harder than I thought, but lots of lightbulb moments have helped me see that my struggles are not just me being mental or difficult, it’s because something happened to me that changed who I was becoming.’
Referrals
Phone: 01752 600599
Email: email@saltsouthwest.co.uk
Mobile (text only – incoming calls not accepted): 07469200256
Please note that we do not accept referrals from third parties
PLEASE NOTE
There are a limited number of exclusion criteria where we will not give access to active trauma therapy:
1. Pregnancy – research shows that babies growing in the womb have strong ‘sensory’ feelings to their environment both internally and externally, so we are very careful with what happens to the adult at this time. We are very happy to offer some ‘holding’ sessions to support a pregnancy to be as calm and enjoyable as possible (whilst acknowledging that pregnancy can be very triggering for some survivors), and will seek to start the healing process with you as soon as possible for you and us after the conclusion of your pregnancy. If you need support with emotional or psychological challenges at any point in your pregnancy please contact Plymouth Pregnancy Crisis support who are specialists in all forms of pregnancy crisis.
2. Active investigations and/or court cases related to your personal trauma and abuser(s) – we are not specialist pre-trial therapists, so would refer you to the local First Light/ISVA services until investigations or court cases are concluded .
You are free to come back to us when investigations and cases are over. The above link can also be used if you are solely looking for support to report to the Police or need some advice about the possibility of doing so.
3. If you are already engaged with other therapy – mixing therapies doesn’t often work, so we will inform you about SALT and support you to make an independent choice about what to do.
