This guide is under active development and will be updated as practice, policy, and evidence evolve. We are keen to engage with service users, agencies, councils, and voluntary organisations to strengthen and refine it. If you would like to contribute or discuss the issues raised, please contact: transinessadmin@protonmail.com
This guide is for transitioned women in the UK who have experienced sexual or domestic violence, whether recently or in the past, and for those who find themselves worrying about what to do and what support might look like. You can read it straight through, or dip into the sections that feel most relevant to you.
Foreword
I know that weight. I’ve carried it myself, navigating these same systems, sometimes with disclosure, sometimes without. I’ve sat there not knowing what to do or where to turn. I’ve left services that felt wrong and spent years believing that meant I was the problem. What I’ve learned, what I wish someone had told me earlier, is that when a service feels unsafe, that’s information. Not about you, but about the service.
This guide exists because you deserve to know what you’re walking into before you walk into it, because uncertainty about where to go, who to trust, and what might happen next is entirely rational. The landscape is complicated, and navigating it while carrying trauma takes enormous courage. Many transitioned women are not just dealing with trauma from violence or abuse, but with a loss of trust in safety itself within our social sphere in the UK today. Epistemic violence – the constant denial of our lived reality – interferes with our ability to tell where safety actually lies.
Nothing here implies fault, weakness, or that what happened to you was somehow less serious because of who you are. If you think you’ve experienced sexual or domestic violence, you deserve the same quality of care and protection as anyone else.
-Liora
If you need immediate help now, click here to go to “Immediate Crisis and Safety.”
Click here for the complete directory at the end of this document
Understanding the Scale: You Are Not Alone
Before we go further, it’s important to understand that what you’re experiencing is not rare, and you are not isolated in needing support.
Evidence from the UK and internationally shows that transitioned women experience substantially higher rates of sexual violence and intimate partner violence compared to cisgender women. While exact UK figures are limited because most services don’t routinely collect data on gender identity, research from comparable populations gives us a clear picture:
- Studies consistently show trans women are 1.7 to 2.5 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence than cisgender women
- Lifetime prevalence of physical intimate partner violence among trans women ranges from 37-57%, depending on the study
- Sexual intimate partner violence affects approximately 25-36% of trans women over their lifetime
- In any given year, an estimated 8,700 trans women in the UK experience intimate partner violence, and approximately 5,650 experience sexual violence
These aren’t small numbers. They represent thousands of women each year who need and deserve appropriate support.
Yet despite this scale of need, transitioned women are nearly absent from recorded service uptake in UK sexual violence and domestic abuse services. This gap between need and visibility doesn’t mean the need doesn’t exist, it means the current system cannot be safely approached or navigated by those who need it most.
This matters because when you seek support and struggle to find it, that’s not a reflection on you. It’s a reflection of a system that hasn’t yet designed pathways that work for the reality of our lives and the abuse we experience.
Why Seeking Help Can Feel So Hard
I don’t know any transitioned women who don’t feel scared right now. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Equality Act, the actions of the EHRC, the constant denial of our lived social experiences, and the outright denial of our physical bodies create an environment where it’s just really difficult to approach any service or institution and ask for help.
Functionally, we’re being treated as both men and women at the same time: included in principle, but reclassified in practice depending on setting, disclosure, or institutional risk. Access to support can hinge not on who we are or what happened to us, but on how a service interprets us at a given moment.
Many of us carry the disclosure dilemma:
Disclose, and risk misrouting, retraumatisation, or being sent somewhere that cannot hold the reality of abuse directed at you as a woman; don’t disclose, and risk being placed in a service that cannot make sense of your experience at all.
This isn’t because you’re doing anything wrong. It’s because systems just aren’t designed with our reality in mind. In terms of support, services often assume that natal sex reliably predicts the type of abuse someone experiences, the perpetrator dynamics involved, and what kind of therapeutic support will help. For many of us, if not most, those assumptions break down.
What we tend to do, without thinking, is careful risk management in an environment where classification and disclosure can cause harm within a system designed to help.
Before talking about where to find help, I need to acknowledge something: many of us don’t recognise what happened to us as “serious enough” to seek support. Or we recognise it but carry layers of shame and silence that make reaching out feel impossible.
Why recognising harm and seeking help can be difficult:
1. Minimisation
“It wasn’t bad enough.” “There was no penetration.” “They didn’t mean it.”
The bar for what “counts” often gets set impossibly high, especially when we’ve been taught that our experiences don’t matter.
2. Perpetrator dynamics that don’t fit the script
There’s a persistent myth that abuse only happens in certain ways, by certain people. If the perpetrator was female, a partner, or someone you cared about, it can be hard to even name what happened as abuse.
3. Coercive control linked to trans status
Some perpetrators use transition-specific vulnerabilities as tools of control: threats of outing, ridicule of your body, withholding hormones, pressuring you to present differently, or isolating you from LGBTQ+ friends or spaces. This is abuse, even if it doesn’t look like stereotypical violence.
4. Fear of impact on transition or healthcare
Many people worry that disclosing abuse will be used against them: as “evidence” they aren’t really women, or that transition is a response to trauma. That fear is real, even if it should not be.
5. Institutional rejection and distrust
If you’ve been mocked, dismissed, or harmed when seeking help before, it makes sense to hesitate. Past responses like “you should have enjoyed it” or being treated as unreliable mirror abuse dynamics. They were wrong. You deserve help.
6. Self-blame and manipulation
Abuse often works by making you feel complicit or responsible. Coercion, gaslighting, and emotional pressure are designed to create self-blame. Feeling this way is a sign of manipulation, not guilt.
7. Family, partner, or historical entanglement
When the person involved was someone you trusted, or someone you still depend on, speaking up can feel like risking everything. “It was a long time ago” often becomes a reason to stay silent rather than seek care.
8. Shame at the intersection
Having transitioned carries stigma. Being a survivor carries stigma. Holding both at once can feel unbearable, as if you’re asking too much of others just by existing. That shame does not belong to you.
9. Not having the language for it
Many people don’t see sexual or domestic violence described in ways that include transitioned women. If you’ve never seen your experience named, it’s hard to know it counts. It’s also hard to find the words for trauma sometimes. That’s ok, be patient with yourself.
10. Overwhelm, fear of authorities, and survival mode
Navigating life post-transition, managing mental health, and dealing with discrimination is exhausting. Adding police, services, or disclosure can feel actively unsafe. Sometimes survival means getting through the day, not opening another door.
Sexual violence is any unwanted sexual act or activity – rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, coercion, and many other forms. But transitioned people, like women generally, are often socialised not to talk about these experiences, and certainly not to those who hold power.
Domestic abuse includes physical violence, but also: controlling behaviour (monitoring where you go, who you see, what you wear), economic abuse (controlling money, preventing you from working), coercive control (threats, intimidation, isolation), sexual violence within relationships, and emotional abuse (constant criticism, humiliation, threats to out you). The reasons for silence are multiple and intersecting.
If anything here is resonating with you, I want to hold that with care. The fact that you’re here, reading this, means some part of you recognises that what happened or what is happening isn’t okay and that you deserve support. That recognition takes courage.
What happened to you matters. It doesn’t matter if it was “violent enough,” if the perpetrator was female, if it happened years ago, if you stayed in contact with the person afterwards, if you didn’t fight back, if you froze, if you were manipulated into compliance. It still matters.
You still deserve care.
The Changing Landscape and Why That Matters
The environment for accessing sexual violence and domestic abuse support in the UK has become more complex, particularly since the Supreme Court ruling in April. While the ruling itself was narrow—clarifying that “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 means natal sex—its effects have exacerbated exclusion through service confusion in ways that directly affect transitioned women seeking help.
What the ruling actually said:
The court clarified terminology in equality law. It did not create new powers to exclude transitioned women from services, and it did not eliminate existing duties under the Care Act 2014 or NHS clinical guidance requiring individual assessment and trauma-informed care.
How it’s being interpreted in practice:
Many services have responded to the ruling by implementing or reinforcing natal classification systems—routing people based on natal sex rather than lived reality, current circumstances, or the actual context of abuse. This has created:
- Increased operational opacity: Services that were already unclear about how they support transitioned women have become more so, as organisations navigate what they believe the ruling requires
- Categorical routing: Some services now automatically route transitioned women to services “for men” regardless of perpetrator dynamics, trauma presentation, your personal social circumstances and how you operate as a woman in society, or therapeutic needs
- Deterrence through uncertainty: Even where services haven’t changed their actual practice, the perceived legal permission for exclusion makes it harder for trans women to know whether approaching a service is safe
What this means for you:
The practical effect is that it’s become harder to identify which services will support transitioned women appropriately, and harder to trust that disclosed history won’t result in reclassification or exclusion. This uncertainty exists alongside the trauma you’re already carrying, adding another layer of complexity to an already difficult decision about seeking help.
You don’t need to understand the legal intricacies to know when something feels unsafe. Trust that instinct. What matters is that the environment many of us are navigating now carries additional risks that weren’t there before, or weren’t as visible. This affects whether disclosing feels safe, whether services feel welcoming, and whether following through with support feels possible.
Current state of safe, accessible provision:
At present, only a small number of services can be identified as offering clear, stable, and publicly navigable support for transitioned women affected by sexual or domestic violence, without requiring negotiation or concealment during crisis. We are actively assessing additional services across England and Scotland, and this guide will be updated as further services demonstrate that they are not only inclusive in principle but safe to approach and stable in practice for transitioned women.
The services we currently recommend are listed in the Complete Support Directory at the end of this guide. These represent the baseline: services where we have confidence that transitioned women can approach, engage, and remain without fear that safety will be withdrawn later.
This is still being built. We know the current provision is inadequate to meet the scale of need, and we’re working to change that. In the meantime, this guide exists to help you navigate what is available and make informed decisions about what feels safe for you.
The Reality on the Ground: What We’re Encountering
Dysfunctional referral frameworks treat natal sex as a stable proxy for risk, perpetrator dynamics, and therapeutic need – even when medical transition has fundamentally altered those factors.
Being offered support that doesn’t fit is common. You might be referred to a service designed for male survivors of sexual violence, even though the abuse you experienced involved a male perpetrator targeting you as a woman, using coercive control tactics typical of intimate partner violence against women. The therapeutic model might not always match. The assumptions about perpetrator dynamics might not match. And trying to explain why it doesn’t fit can feel like having to justify your existence at the moment you’re most vulnerable.
Having to repeatedly explain or justify yourself compounds trauma. Every time you have to disclose, negotiate, or advocate for appropriate care, you’re spending emotional resources you may not have. For those of us who live non-disclosed in most of our lives, each revelation carries the risk of judgment, of changed treatment, of information you can’t take back. I know how that feels, and I know how distressing it can be.
Quiet disengagement happens when nothing feels safe. Many of us simply stop trying. We walk away after initial contact, not because we don’t need help, but because the available options feel more harmful than managing alone. Services often interpret this silence as success: no ongoing need. But absence from services doesn’t mean absence of harm. You are not alone, this discrepancy affects a lot of minority women, even those assigned female at birth.
If you’ve walked away from a service that felt wrong, that was appropriate self-protection. You were reading the situation accurately, and you were right to do so. Empowering survivors means empowering every choice you make for your survival, and I am right there with you.
What You’re Allowed to Expect From Any Service
Sometimes when we’ve been harmed, we lose track of what reasonable expectations look like. Here’s what you’re allowed to expect:
To be allowed access to services without disclosure.
You might well be traumatised already, you’re desperate for help, and don’t know where to turn. A service might appear compassionate and caring, and you think you might be safe. If you are presented with a form demanding disclose your medical history, your “natal sex”, or if you “identify” as trans, you can simply disengage. It’s unlikely anything about your abuse or vulnerability, or your situation, is about “identifying”. Abuse is about “power over”; the last thing you want to do is engage with a service that mirrors abuse dynamics from which you are trying to escape.
To expect the same level of service as everyone else.
You should expect to receive trauma care that doesn’t require splitting yourself. You shouldn’t have to hide parts of your experience to access support. If the only way to get help is to pretend the abuse didn’t have specific dimensions related to being a transitioned woman, that’s not adequate care. You should not be expected to share groupwork or services with men if you aren’t comfortable with them. Mixed services can be helpful and healing, but you should be able to receive a service that treats you with the dignity and respect as any other woman socially interpreted as female.
You should be able to access:
• counselling that holds your whole story
• advocacy that understands your social and bodily reality
• group work that feels emotionally and physically safe
You have the right to disengage if a service feels unsafe.
You don’t owe anyone your continued presence. If something feels “off” or if you’re having to explain too much in painful detail, these are red flags. If the therapeutic model doesn’t fit, if disclosure is being handled carelessly, if you feel you’re not being treated with dignity or respect, you can leave. That’s not failure.
Sometimes the choice feels like “accept inadequate care or have nothing.” You’re allowed to decide that “nothing” is better than re-traumatisation. Your dignity matters. Your boundaries matter. You’re allowed to protect yourself, even from services that mean well.
All Survivors deserve care without being retraumatised.
Without having to trade one wound for another.
Without having to trade dignity for hope.
Where Support Exists: A Practical Guide
I want to be honest with you about what’s actually available, what it can and can’t offer, and what you might encounter. This isn’t about endorsements, it’s about informed decision-making.
A note before we begin: You don’t have to have everything figured out before reaching out. You don’t need to use the word “rape” or “abuse” if those words don’t feel right yet. “Something happened, and I’m struggling” is enough. Services are used to working with people who are still making sense of their experiences.
The support you need depends on where you are right now. This section is organised to help you find what’s most urgent first.
Part 1: Immediate Crisis and Safety
If you’ve just experienced sexual assault:
Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) provide immediate medical care, forensic examination (if you want it), crisis support, and some follow-up. What they do, they often do well: treating injuries, testing for STIs, providing post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent HIV transmission if you’ve been exposed within the last 72 hours, documenting evidence, and connecting you with immediate advocacy.
Time matters for some of this care. Forensic evidence can be collected up to seven days after an assault, though the sooner the better for DNA evidence. PEP is most effective when started within 24 hours and must be started within 72 hours of exposure to work. If you think you might need PEP, getting to a SARC or A&E quickly matters. STI testing and treatment can happen at any point, and many SARCs will arrange follow-up testing at appropriate intervals.
You can go to a SARC directly without going through the police. You can have a forensic examination without making a police report—evidence is stored for a period (usually six months to two years, depending on the area) in case you decide later. You can decline any part of what’s offered. This is your choice, at your pace.
Where pathways often break: The onward referral to specialist therapeutic support. This is where birth-sex classification most commonly determines which service you’re offered, regardless of the actual context of the abuse. This is why the rest of this guide exists – to help you navigate what comes after acute care.
Find your local SARC: Call 111 (NHS) or visit www.thesurvivorstrust.org to find your nearest centre
If you’re currently experiencing domestic abuse:
If you’re in immediate danger, call 999.
If you’re planning to leave, need support to stay safe, or want to talk through your options:
- National Domestic Abuse Helpline (run by Refuge)
0808 2000 247 (24/7)
Provides safety planning, crisis support, and information about emergency and longer-term options. Refuge has confirmed that the helpline supports all women, including transitioned women.
Note: While helpline support is inclusive, the availability of refuge accommodation for transitioned women can vary by area. - Galop LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline
0800 999 5428 (10am–8pm, Monday–Friday, with some evening/weekend hours)
Specialist support for LGBT+ people experiencing domestic abuse, with an understanding of the specific dynamics that can arise in LGBT+ contexts. Can help with safety planning and emotional support. - Notts SVS Services (Nottinghamshire only)
0115 941 0440 (published opening hours)
Provides integrated support for domestic and sexual violence, including helpline, ISVA support, counselling, and therapeutic services. Notts SVS has a publicly available trans inclusion policy and clear pathways that allow survivors to determine safety before contact.
If you’re outside Nottinghamshire and unsure where to turn, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline can help you identify local options.
In high-risk domestic abuse situations, professionals may refer cases to multi-agency safeguarding panels (often called MARACs). These are professional processes, not something you need to manage or attend yourself.
If you’re not sure if what’s happening counts as abuse:
Domestic abuse includes physical violence, but also: controlling behaviour (monitoring where you go, who you see, what you wear), economic abuse (controlling money, preventing you from working), coercive control (threats, intimidation, isolation), sexual violence within relationships, and emotional abuse (constant criticism, humiliation, threats to out you). It’s often really difficult to identify abuse when you’re in the middle of it, with someone you love. There is nothing lost in seeking professional advice to help you make sense of a situation. That’s what they’re there for, too.
Part 2: Stabilisation and Mental Health Support (The Cornerstone)
When you are physically safe, before you can do deep work on trauma, you need to be emotionally safe and stable. This isn’t a moral judgement – it’s a clinical reality. You can’t process what happened while you’re still in danger, or while your nervous system is so overwhelmed that you can’t function day-to-day.
Trauma responses are normal, not broken:
If you’re experiencing any of these, you’re having normal responses to abnormal experiences:
- PTSD symptoms: Flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, feeling like it’s happening again, avoiding reminders, hypervigilance (constantly scanning for danger), emotional numbness, difficulty sleeping
- Depression: Loss of interest in things that used to matter, difficulty getting out of bed, feeling worthless or like there’s no future, withdrawal from people
- Anxiety: Constant worry, panic attacks, physical symptoms (racing heart, difficulty breathing), fear of specific situations or people
- Dissociation: Feeling disconnected from your body, watching yourself from outside, losing time, feeling unreal
- Complex responses: If the abuse was prolonged or happened in childhood, you might have difficulty trusting people, an unstable sense of self, problems with relationships and chronic shame
These aren’t signs you’re weak or broken. They are signs that your mind and body are trying to protect you from overwhelming experiences. With the right support, these responses can become less intense and more manageable.
Different types of help and who does what:
The mental health system can feel confusing. Here’s what different practitioners do and when you might see them:
Your GP (General Practitioner): Your starting point for NHS mental health support. They can:
- Prescribe medication for depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms
- Refer you to NHS psychological therapies (IAPT services for mild-moderate issues, or secondary care mental health services for more complex needs)
- Provide sick notes if you need time off work
- Refer to specialist services if needed
You don’t have to explain everything to your GP. “I’ve experienced trauma, and I’m struggling with [anxiety/depression/flashbacks/sleep]” is enough. If your GP isn’t helpful, you can see a different GP at the same practice or register elsewhere.
Psychiatrists: Medical doctors who specialise in mental health. They can:
- Prescribe and monitor medication
- Diagnose conditions like PTSD, depression, and complex PTSD
- Provide crisis support and risk assessment
- Work with you on medication combinations if single medications aren’t effective
Taking medication for trauma-related mental health issues is healthcare, not weakness. Medication can’t fix trauma, but it can stabilise mood, reduce anxiety, help with sleep, and make it possible to engage with therapy. Some people need medication short-term during a crisis; others benefit from longer-term use. Both are valid.
Psychologists: Trained in psychological therapy and assessment. They can:
- Provide trauma-informed therapy
- Treat PTSD using evidence-based approaches (like EMDR, trauma-focused CBT, and exposure therapy)
- Help with safety and stabilisation before trauma work
- Teach coping strategies for managing symptoms
NHS psychologists are accessed through GP referral. Waiting times vary significantly by area. Private psychologists can be expensive (£80-150+ per session) but offer faster access and more control over who you see.
Psychotherapists: Trained in longer-term talking therapy. They can:
- Work on complex trauma that needs more than a few sessions
- Help process childhood abuse, repeated trauma, or complex relationship patterns
- Provide a consistent therapeutic relationship over months or years
- Work at your pace with less pressure around session limits
Most psychotherapists work privately (similar costs to private psychologists). Some offer reduced-fee slots. Training backgrounds vary, so look for someone trained in trauma, minority stress and who is trans friendly specifically.
Counsellors: Provide supportive therapy, often shorter-term. They can:
- Offer a space to talk through what’s happening
- Help with immediate coping strategies
- Support you through a difficult period
- Work on specific issues like anxiety or grief
Some GP practices have counsellors. Voluntary organisations sometimes offer free or low-cost counselling. Private counsellors are often slightly less expensive than psychologists/psychotherapists (£40-80 per session).
When to access what:
- Crisis/can’t function: GP first, potentially urgent mental health referral or crisis team
- Need medication to stabilise: GP or psychiatrist
- Ready for trauma-specific therapy, but NHS waiting times are too long: Consider a private psychologist or psychotherapist if financially possible
- Need someone to talk to while waiting for NHS services: Counsellor (charity or private)
- Complex trauma that will take time: Psychotherapist, when you’re ready and stable enough
Finding trauma-informed practitioners who understand transitioned women’s experiences:
This is harder than it should be. Questions to ask when contacting therapists:
- “Do you have experience working with trauma/PTSD?”
- “Are you familiar with working with trans clients?”
- “What’s your approach to trauma therapy?”
Pink Therapy (www.pinktherapy.com) maintains a directory of LGBT+-affirmative therapists, though not all specialise in trauma. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) directory allows you to search by specialisation.
You’re allowed to try a therapist and decide they’re not right for you. The relationship matters enormously in trauma work, and finding the right therapist truly requires a guide of its own.
Part 3: Specialist Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Services
Once you’re stabilised, when you’re safe, when you’re sleeping and eating reasonably, when medication is helping if you need it, when you have some basic coping strategies, you might be ready for trauma-specific work focused on the sexual violence or domestic abuse itself.
This isn’t about rushing. Some people are ready quickly; others need months or years of stabilisation first. Both are normal.
How we use these principles
We have carefully audited services for you, based on these rights. Every service we recommend has been screened against what every survivor should be allowed to expect: access without compelled disclosure, continuity of care, dignity, emotional safety, and freedom from reclassification or conditional support.
This matters because care that is less than, designed for men, compels disclosure, or that withdraws safety upon fuller disclosure, creates an institutional betrayal — a further wound from which you then have to recover.
When your local area does not provide support
There is a good chance that your local area will not provide any opportunity for group work as a survivor. We believe that groupwork is an essential element for survivors to work through the complex nature of abuse, but this is especially important for survivors of child sexual abuse. Being with people with shared experiences and difficulties helps you to understand that you are not alone in struggling with things that might well have shaped your adult life. The journey to recovery can be especially difficult when abuse has shaped your formative years. For this reason, we’ve included Survivors UK here, although you have to be mindful of the dynamics here; they do have a trans group, and the guys are going to be very lovely, but they only meet once a month, and being the only transitioned woman there is going to get a bit lonely. Other factors to consider are that disclosure is going to be unavoidable, men might treat you as an interloper, and the structure of psychological support is often framed around “externalising” behaviours, rather than deep-seated distress, shame, and self-blame.
Survivors UK
Despite the heavy burden placed on survivors to navigate misclassification, there is support to be found in Survivors UK. It’s primarily a service for men (cis, trans and non-binary) who’ve experienced sexual violence. It feels *very* counter-intuitive to reach out to a men’s service when what you need is recognition of violence directed at you as a woman. There is also something distinctly unsettling about being separated from your normal peer group and being surrounded by men, while trans men and non-binary people of any natal category get have that space. Furthermore, trauma can make proximity to men feel unsafe, regardless of individual context; it can often make all men feel unsafe (or all women). If you’re not ready, that’s okay, because what you’re being asked to manage here is effectively multiple stressors combined: disclosure, trauma, exposure therapy and institutional betrayal, all at once. This is not for the uninitiated, and I’d only recommend this after individual counselling and safety and stabilisation techniques. It’s an advanced skill to ignore your own material and social reality and stay present enough to make it work. If the idea of this makes your chest tight, that’s okay. This is a normal response to polytrauma. You don’t have to decide today or ever, but I want to give you all the room to choose for yourself.
What I can tell you from experience: the facilitators practice genuine trauma-informed care and understand some of the specific vulnerabilities that transitioned women face. Their main offering is CORE, a structured 12-week therapeutic group that runs twice weekly online (Monday evenings or Friday evenings), with breaks every three weeks. It’s a significant commitment: four months total, but for many of us it provides the sustained, specialist trauma work that’s hard to find elsewhere. You’ll need an assessment to join CORE, and you can’t attend while you’re in individual therapy elsewhere, so timing matters if you’re already working with a therapist.
They also run a monthly Trans & Non-Binary group (second Saturday of each month, 10:30am-12:30pm) which provides space to talk about the intersections: how gender and transition shaped the abuse, the barriers to safety, and the specific fears about services. That’s a space that’s harder to find elsewhere. If you complete CORE, there’s an ongoing monthly group available by invitation that continues the work in a less structured format.
Not everything requires assessment or commitment. Get Together (third Sunday, 4pm-6pm) and Tune In Tuesday (first Tuesday, 6:30pm-9pm) are drop-in spaces where you can get a feel for the environment before deciding whether to pursue more structured support. There are also creative alternatives: a Dungeons & Dragons group with accompanying reflective space, creative writing sessions, philosophy discussions which recognise that not everyone processes trauma through traditional talk therapy.
What to expect emotionally: Being in a space predominantly with men can be triggering, especially early on. That’s a normal response; this is difficult work. Many of us find that grounding techniques learned in therapy become essential: turning the camera off when you need to, using movement, and orienting to safety. Remember: your comfort and safety matter more than completing a program; you can leave at any time.
The online format means geography isn’t a barrier, and you have some control over visibility—you can keep your camera off, you can step away when you need to. The quality of facilitation matters enormously; these are people who understand complex trauma, who won’t minimize your experience, and who’ve created space for us to exist without constantly negotiating our legitimacy.
If you’re considering reaching out, you can email help@survivorsuk.org or call 020 3598 3898. You don’t have to explain everything in the first message. “I’ve experienced sexual violence, and I’m trying to figure out if your service might be right for me” is enough to start the conversation. You can mention if you’re specifically interested in the Trans & Non-Binary group, or if you’d prefer to try one of the drop-in sessions first. They won’t mind your name: they won’t turn you away, and they won’t ask invasive questions.
The Emotional Toll: Why This Can Hurt So Much
There’s a particular kind of pain that comes from seeking help and discovering the help isn’t there, or isn’t accessible to you. It mirrors some of the dynamics of abuse itself: being told your reality isn’t quite real, having your needs dismissed, feeling like you’re asking for too much simply by existing.
The repeated invalidation compounds trauma. Each time you have to explain why a service doesn’t fit, each time someone routes you incorrectly despite disclosure, each time you’re treated as an administrative puzzle rather than a person in need, and those experiences layer on top of the original harm. Research shows that discrimination itself produces trauma responses similar to direct violence: avoidance, hypervigilance, and physiological stress. When systems are designed to help add to that burden, the impact is profound.
If parts of this feel unbearable, that’s because it is, and that’s why we’ve done the groundwork for you, so you don’t have to. The burden isn’t meant to be carried alone, and you’re being asked to carry both your trauma and the system’s failure to meet you.
Afterword
I won’t tell you that everything will be okay, because I don’t know what your path looks like, but I do know that healing isn’t linear. It will take time, and a great deal of kindness to yourself. But healing is possible, even when the path is harder than it should be. Timing is personal. Readiness matters. You get to decide what feels possible and when.
If you’re not ready to reach out yet, that’s okay. Save this. Share it with someone you trust. Return to it when you need it. Your story matters, and you deserve care, even if the systems meant to provide it haven’t fully figured out how to reach you yet.
You’re not alone in this. There are more of us out here than you might think, navigating the same complicated landscape, carrying similar weight. Some of us have found ways through. Some of us are still looking. All of us understand that it shouldn’t be this hard, and I want you to know you’re not alone. You are not broken because the path is hard. You are whole, and your healing is possible, even if it has to be carved out in places no one expected.
Take care of yourself. You’re doing better than you think you are.
The Complete Support Directory:
Core Sexual and Domestic Violence Support
Sexual Violence
The following services have been identified as safe following a structured review of publicly available information, with attention to navigability, safeguarding, and disclosure safety for transitioned women seeking sexual violence support.
Additional sexual violence services with our full audit reports are available across England (in progress), Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (in progress). Our findings suggest that not all services are equally navigable or appropriate for transitioned women, and some may require careful consideration before contact. We recommend reviewing the accompanying reports prior to engaging with services not listed here. This work is ongoing and may be incomplete at this time.
Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre
Scotland – Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian
Specialist sexual violence support for women, including transitioned women, with an explicit commitment to inclusion.
📞 0131 556 9437 (callback)
📱 07966 067 301 (text)
✉️ support@ercc.scot
🌐 ercc.scot
Lincolnshire Rape Crisis
England – Lincolnshire
Provides specialist sexual violence support with explicit inclusion of transitioned women across service pathways, including counselling and advocacy.
📞 01522 510999
✉️ support@lincsrapecrisis.org.uk
🌐 lincsrapecrisis.org.uk
North London Rape Crisis (Solace Women’s Aid)
England – North London
Provides women-only sexual and domestic violence services with an explicit definition of women that includes transitioned women. Offers advocacy, counselling, and group work without requiring disclosure of sex assigned at birth or risking reclassification after engagement.
📞 0808 802 5565
✉️ advice@solacewomensaid.org
🌐 solacewomensaid.org
Nottinghamshire Sexual Violence Support Services
England – Nottinghamshire
Provides integrated support for sexual and domestic violence, including helpline, ISVA advocacy, counselling, and therapeutic services. Publicly affirms self-defined gender with clear, survivor-facing pathways.
📞 0115 941 0440
✉️ info@notts-svs.org.uk
🌐 nottssvss.org.uk/
Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland
England – North East
Provides specialist sexual violence support with explicit, survivor-facing inclusion of transitioned women within women’s services. Group work and counselling are accessible without forced disclosure or categorical exclusion.
📞 0191 221 9234
✉️ enquiries@rctn.org.uk
Survivors Network
England – Sussex
Rape Crisis Centre for Sussex provides a helpline, ISVA, counselling and group work. Operates an inclusive self-identification model in practice, with women-framed provision inclusive of transitioned women.
📞 01273 203380
✉️ info@survivorsnetwork.org.uk
🌐 survivorsnetwork.org.uk
UK-wide Alternative Service (Men’s Service)
Survivors UK – This is a service for men, mandating outing, but they will not turn transitioned women away. We include this service because we have heard from survivors who have been rejected elsewhere.
UK-wide (online)
Men’s sexual violence support service available across the UK. Provides specialist support including structured therapeutic groups and a dedicated Trans & Non-Binary group. Groupwork is accessible but requires disclosure. Particularly relevant where women-only services are unavailable or inaccessible.
📞 020 3598 3898
✉️ help@survivorsuk.org
🌐 survivorsuk.org
Domestic Abuse
Refuge
UK-wide
Refuge has confirmed that its community-based services and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline support all women, including trans women.
Some accommodation-based provision is available, subject to assessment and location.
📞 National Domestic Abuse Helpline (24/7): 0808 2000 247
🌐 refuge.org.uk
Loving Me
England only
A specialist domestic abuse service designed specifically for trans people, including transitioned women.
Offers safety planning, advocacy, housing advice, and support with criminal justice processes.
📞 07902 478958
✉️ help@lovingme.uk
🌐 lovingme.uk
Note: limited capacity; eligibility and availability apply.
Notts SVS Services
England – Nottinghamshire
Provides integrated support for sexual and domestic violence, including helpline, ISVA, counselling, and therapeutic services. Has a publicly available trans inclusion policy and clearly signposted pathways, including an LGBT pathway, allowing survivors to determine safety before contact.
📞 0115 941 0440
🌐 notts-svs.org.uk
Additional Housing and support contacts:
These services are not crisis responders, but can be important for housing stability, onward referrals, and specialist navigation, especially once immediate danger has reduced.
AKT
UK-wide (under 25s)
Supports LGBTQ+ young people at risk of homelessness, including those affected by family rejection, abuse, or relationship breakdown.
Relevant primarily for under-25s.
🌐 akt.org.uk
Stonewall Housing
England
Specialist housing advice and advocacy for LGBT+ people, including those affected by domestic abuse.
Stonewall Housing is not an emergency accommodation provider, but can help with housing options, local authority engagement, and longer-term stability following abuse.
🌐 stonewallhousing.org
Signposting, Navigation, and Advocacy Services
These services do not usually provide long-term therapy, but are valuable for understanding options, finding local services, talking things through before committing, and avoiding misrouting or retraumatisation.
Galop
National LGBT+ anti-violence charity offering advocacy, risk assessment, and casework.
Can support survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence, hate crime, and other abuse.
📞 0800 999 5428
✉️ help@galop.org.uk
🌐 galop.org.uk
Men’s Advice Line (Be aware this is a service “for men”)
UK-wide
A signposting and advice service that will not turn trans women away, and can help identify appropriate onward support.
📞 0808 8010 327
✉️ info@mensadviceline.org.uk
🌐 mensadviceline.org.uk
Switchboard
UK-wide
LGBT+ helpline offering listening support and signposting.
📞 0800 0119 100
🌐 switchboard.lgbt
Mental Health and Emotional Support
Regional mental health and crisis teams
You might find that your mental health varies during your recovery. Regional mental health teams sometimes involve referral from your GP, but there are pre-crisis teams (such as “Haven” units across Sussex) that can provide holding space and ongoing referrals should you need them. Ask your GP about what’s available in your area. These services are not sexual or domestic violence specialists, but can help with:
- acute distress
- emotional containment
- crisis moments
- holding space while you decide what to do next
Mindline Trans+
Emotional and mental health support for trans people.
📞 0300 330 5468 (evenings)
Mind
Emotional, mental health support and mental health advocacy services.
England & Wales
📞 Infoline: 0300 123 3393
🌐 mind.org.uk
Samaritans
24/7 listening support in moments of acute distress.
📞 116 123
Shout
24/7 text-based crisis support.
📱 Text SHOUT to 85258
NHS 111
England
You can call 111 and ask directly for the urgent mental health option.
This connects you to your local NHS urgent mental health service (often the Crisis Resolution or Mental Health Access Team).
You can use this if:
- you are in emotional distress and need urgent support
- you feel unsafe but it is not an immediate emergency
- you need help outside normal GP hours
- you don’t know where else to turn
You do not need to be suicidal to use this service.
📞 Call 111
🌐 nhs.uk/111
If you are already under a community mental health team, they may also have a direct crisis number – 111 can help you find it.
If you’re in immediate danger, please call 999.
This guide reflects emerging evidence about how current service design affects transitioned women. Further analysis of safeguarding and referral pathways is ongoing.
version 3.2 20/2/26