The need for the project

SWY’s work supports male survivors of sexual violence and abuse. Male sexual violence reporting is increasing within England and Wales, with current statistics (of reported rape, no other forms of sexual violence included) estimated to be around 12,0001; this compares with 1,135 in 2005. In the year to March 2016, police in England and Wales recorded 3,443 occurrences of sexual assault on males aged 13 and over, and 1,282 occurrences of rape of males aged 16 and over2. Sexual violence crimes – and particularly male sexual violence crimes – are known to be drastically underreported. Knowing this, it is likely that the true number of male rape occurrences is much higher than the reported statistic. The effects of sexual abuse and rape are pervasive and longlasting. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including sexual abuse or exploitation, can have lifelong effects on physical and mental health – and are directly implicated in causing early death. Children exposed to ACEs “are more likely to go on to develop health harming and antisocial behaviours, often during adolescence, such as binge drinking, smoking and drug use”3 . Men who have been exposed to ACEs report higher levels of all health harming behaviours than women who have been exposed to the same ACEs, and present with multiple and complex needs. The trauma manifests itself in physical, mental, emotional and behavioural symptoms, from the immediately evident e.g., a post-traumatic psychotic episode – to the subtle e.g., low self-esteem/lack of confidence. Male survivors of sexual abuse are ten times more likely to commit suicide than non-survivors4 . “More likely to go on to develop health harming and antisocial behaviours, often during adolescence, such as binge drinking, smoking and drug use”

1 Office for National Statistics, ‘Sexual offences in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’, February 2018 2 Office for National Statistics, ‘Bulletin Tables - Focus on violent crime and sexual offences (year ending March 2016)’, February 2017 3 Bellis, M. & Ashton, K., ‘Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their association with health-harming behaviours in the Welsh adult population’, 2016 4 O’Leary, P. & Gould, N., ‘Men Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood and Subsequent

Suicidal Ideation: Community Comparison, Explanations & Practice Implications’, 2008

Recorded adult rapes per 100,000 of adult population in West Yorkshire have been higher than the England and Wales figure every year since 2012/13, and the rate has increased sharply over the past few years, with an increase of over 450% in annual recorded adult rapes between 2012-13 and 2017-18. When looking solely at recorded rape of adult males, the increase is even more pronounced – a leap of over 900%, from 11 in 2012-13 to 115 in 2017-18. In 2017/18, West Yorkshire had the third highest level of recorded adult rapes, and the highest level of recorded child rapes of any area nationwide5 . In the six months between April-September 2016, West Yorkshire Police recorded 155 instances of sexual assault or rape of males aged 13 and over: equating to almost one rape or sexual assault per day6 . Events including the Operation Yewtree inquiries and similar investigations have propelled sexual violence into the national consciousness. The current situation with regards to historical sexual abuse means that services anticipate a much higher volume of survivors coming forward over the next few years. The anticipated increase in service users will put further strain on existing services. Research commissioned by SWY found that services were in greater demand in the wake of these events, with more people accessing services – but that there had been little increase in funding for services to enable them to keep up with demand7. The research found that specialist sexual violence services were struggling as they were forced to compete for funding with larger ‘generic’ services. This is concerning as smaller specialist services closing through lack of funding will necessarily mean a decline in the quality of outcomes for sexual violence survivors across the country. When looking solely at recorded rape of adult males, the increase is even more pronounced – a leap of over 900%, from 11 in 2012-13 to 115 in 2017-18

5 Rape Monitoring Group, ‘Rape Monitoring Group raw data 2012/13 to 2017/18’, 2019,

HMICFRS 6 Unpublished statistics from West Yorkshire Police 7 Scurlock-Evans, L. & Mahoney, B., ‘A View from Inside the Box IV: Connecting the Boxes:

Coming Home’, 2016

Sexual violence services for men are already scarce – SWY is the only male-specific service in West Yorkshire, with one other service (KRASSAAC in Huddersfield) offering support to male survivors alongside female survivors. KRASSAAC supported 62 men during 2020 and SWY provided 1:1 support (24 = counselling and 60 =individual advice/ information) to 84, meaning a total of 146 male survivors in West Yorkshire were able to access support over the year. Given that research estimates that 1 in 6 men (17%) have experienced sexual violence8, this number – representing approximately 0.0095% of West Yorkshire’s male population (aged 15+) – shows that there is a huge gap in provision. The diversification of women’s sexual violence services – services that had previously been women-only, but which have now begun to offer help to male survivors as well – has been an emerging theme in recent years, borne out of the scarcity of funding in the sector. This is problematic, as research has consistently shown that both men and women are much more likely to seek help from sexual violence services that are gender specific. The current funding-driven trend for combined services is therefore not ideal for men or women and is likely to result in fewer people overall reaching the services that they desperately need. Feedback from SWY clients confirms that they often would not have approached a generic service, and the client data they hold shows that 98% of SWY enquiries are from cisgender men, and 1.25% from transgender men, strongly supporting the need for dedicated male services.

COVID has had far-reaching negative effects on mental health and wellbeing. A report from the British Medical Association found that the pandemic risked mental health by worsening existing mental health conditions, and also increasing the risk of developing new ones – due to a multitude of factors including enforced social isolation, health-related stress, income-related stress and wider health inequalities. The same report also highlighted that mental health services were struggling to provide all patients with the level of care required before the pandemic hit, a situation which was likely to worsen without immediate government action9 . SWY’s digital service delivery put their service users at an advantage when COVID-19 hit – the organisation was already able to deliver vital counselling services over video call, so could hit the ground running with any new referrals, and the therapists involved in the project were familiar with the software and systems so required no acclimatisation period. The pandemic has accelerated research into the use of video calling services for therapeutic purposes, with recent research showing that therapy via video call “is no less efficacious than in-person therapy… clients rate the therapeutic alliance and satisfaction similarly to therapy inperson”10 . Research has shown that online video counselling can be a more acceptable way to engage in a therapeutic process for those with higher levels of self-stigma11 – a known challenge for male survivors.

The pandemic has accelerated research into the use of video calling services for therapeutic purposes

9 BMA, ‘The impact of COVID-19 on mental health in England; Supporting services to go beyond parity of esteem’, September 2020 10 Thomas, N. et al, ‘Review of the current empirical literature on using videoconferencing to deliver individual psychotherapies to adults with mental health problems’, 2021,

British Psychological Society 11 Bird, M., Chow, G., Meir, G. & Freeman, J., ‘The Influence of Stigma on College Students’

Attitudes Toward Online Video Counseling and Face-to-Face Counseling’, October 2019, Journal of College Counseling