Sexual Safety UTwente is a project that arose after noticing quite a gap between the amount of sexual violence our community faces and the support victims receive.
Victims don’t seek help because their experience is invalidated and they don’t know where to go. They tend to minimize and push down what happened as the conversation surrounding the topic of sexual violence remains stigmatized.If they do seek help they are met with many barriers, from seeing too many people, getting sent and “delegated“ from place to place, and having to tell their story one too many times. This long process may further discourage them to seek and receive the right assistance. They feel alone in their healing journey despite this being a collective and recurring problem among our community.
A safe physical space where you can walk in and receive specialized professional help. This center is based on community and care therefore we set up support groups were people can connect, share and heal together. The Center will be run by a collective of students and employees working on the further improvement on making our campus sexually safe.
At our university, various individual organizations already exist, the aim of the support center is to join all our efforts to make an even greater impact. Imagine it as a central space for support services, community activities, and healing groups. While we work on establishing a physical location, we're first aiming to set up support groups and grow a community. Our vision is to create a nurturing space where survivors can connect, find solace, and grow together.
