Conforto: Where Healing Finds Safety

A Space of Comfort, Strength, Healing, and Hope for Survivors of Sexual Violence/Abuse

By Sarah Aston, Conforto

In communities across the UK, so many women carry the quiet, often invisible weight of sexual violence and abuse. It is a weight that can reshape lives, identities, and futures. Yet amid these difficult realities, projects like Conforto are creating tailored spaces where survivors can process, share, and rebuild their lives.

Conforto is a project led by Sarah Aston and hosted by a charitable Housing Association called the Churches Housing Association of Dudley and District (CHADD). The name ‘Conforto’ is Latin and means Comfort. It is based on the foundation of being a source of comfort for women and has a profound commitment to trauma-informed care. Conforto stands as a sanctuary - a place where comfort meets strength, and where healing is not rushed but nurtured.

Why Conforto Exists

Sexual violence touches far more lives than many people realise. In the UK, research shows that millions of women have experienced some form of sexual violence/abuse in their lifetime. The effects can be profound and long-lasting, shaping mental health, relationships, physical wellbeing, and a person’s sense of self.

But what Conforto has learned - through the voices of survivors, community conversations, and other organisations, is that healing looks different for everyone. Some women seek crisis support, some seek criminal justice, some look for therapy or peer groups, and others long for a safe space where they can simply slow down, reflect, and begin rebuilding with a stable foundation beneath them.

Conforto exists as one pathway among many, designed to complement the wider range of support across the UK. It recognises the vital work of crisis services, counsellors, safeguarding teams, and sexual violence support organisations nationwide. Conforto stands alongside these services - offering a unique, holistic and restorative model of care and support.

What Conforto Offers

Conforto’s approach is built on a set of clear, thoughtful pillars that together create a strong support system for survivors. Each part has its own role, but all work toward the same mission of comfort, restoration, and empowerment. Since the vision for Conforto began six years ago, the team has stayed open, flexible, and willing to try new approaches to better serve survivors.

The service currently offers:

Comfort Gifts: Acts of Compassion That Carry Weight

The Comfort Gift initiative birthed during the very start of the Covid lockdowns, remains one of Conforto’s most cherished aspects of the service. These beautifully curated packages are sent to women across the Black Country who have experienced sexual violence. Inside each gift are carefully chosen items - comforting objects, soothing treats, personal notes - reminding the recipient that they are cared for, that they matter, and that their healing is worth honouring. Though simple in concept, these gifts often arrive at moments when survivors need that reminder the most. They bring warmth, connection, and something tangible to hold on to during difficult days. Over 125 Comfort Gifts have been delivered to women in the Black Country and over 30 businesses and organisations have donated products and monetary donations.

Happy Post: Comfort Gifts in the post

As the Comfort Gift initiative was rolled out, there were also requests for these gifts from women living further away than 3+ miles. As the Comfort Gifts are quite big and expensive to post, a new idea was birthed and so a mini version was made and tucked into a letterbox package and so now women from all over the UK can apply for a gift.

Training

Thanks to generous supporters and donors, Conforto has been able to contribute to the wider landscape of survivor support by helping fund the training of additional Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (trained by The Survivors Trust). This means there are two trauma-informed specialist advocates within the Conforto team.

One to one support with a Qualified ISVA

This is where most of Conforto’s time is spent, based in the community of Dudley, Conforto offers 12 weeks of 50 minute sessions with a qualified ISVA for women aged 18+ who have experienced sexual violence/abuse. These sessions often include:

·       Emotional support: Provide a safe, confidential space to talk and help clients cope with trauma.

·       Information and advice: Explain options around reporting to the police, medical services, and legal processes.

·       Practical support: Help with things like housing, benefits, safeguarding, and referrals to other services.

·       Advocacy: Speak on the client’s behalf with police, courts, healthcare, or other agencies—always centred on the client’s choices.

·       Support through the criminal justice process: Guide clients through police interviews, court preparation, and trial, if they choose to report.

·       Risk assessment and safety planning: Identify risks and help make plans to keep clients safe.

·       Empowerment: Support clients to regain control, make informed decisions, and rebuild confidence.

·       Rebuilding self-esteem

·       Developing a renewed sense of self

·       Feeling seen, valued, and understood

Working Together: Conforto’s Place in a Wider Network

A core part of Conforto’s philosophy is that healing happens most effectively when services work together. Conforto values the work of Rape Crisis centres, safeguarding teams, sexual assault referral centres, ISVA services, domestic abuse organisations, mental health providers, and community groups. Conforto’s model is simply one piece of this wider network - a complementary pathway focused on long-term rebuilding and restorative care. The organisation collaborates whenever possible, signposts to other services, and actively raises awareness of the support available across the UK.

This spirit of collaboration ensures that survivors do not face their journey alone, and that they have a variety of options to choose from depending on what feels right for them.

A Vision for the Future

Conforto is steadily growing, guided by survivor feedback and community support. The vision for the future includes:

• Developing a residential model – A home for survivors

• Continuing to train specialist advocates, contributing to a stronger national support network

• Enhancing community-based support pathways and developing successful drop-in services

• Growing the Comfort Gift and Happy Post initiatives

• Strengthening partnerships with other organisations

• Using data from surveys and lived experience

• Maintaining the Conforto Instagram account and maintaining a presence on social media

The goal is not rapid expansion, but thoughtful, sustainable growth that remains rooted in the organisation’s original values: empathy, gentleness, empowerment, and the belief that survivors deserve time and space to heal.

The long-term vision - Conforto House: Retreat-Based, Long-Term Support

One of the visions for Conforto is Conforto House - this would be a 12-month residential retreat designed specifically for survivors of sexual violence who require accomodation.

This space would not be a crisis refuge; instead, it is a home-like environment created for longer-term healing. Here, women will have the opportunity to rebuild their confidence, independence, and inner strength at their own pace.

The aims for the retreat will be:

• Stability — a consistent environment where survivors can settle, reflect, and grow

• Safety — a trauma-informed space where residents feel protected and supported

• Structure — routines and supportive frameworks that nurture emotional and mental wellbeing

• Community — gentle connection with others who understand aspects of the journey

• Restoration — the chance to focus wholly on healing without external pressures

A Community Effort: How People Can Support the Mission

Conforto’s work is driven by the generosity and belief of its community. People can support the project through:

• Donations - to fund training, fundraising events and expand the gift programme

• Volunteering - including practical help, administrative support, community outreach, or digital engagement (social media presence).

• Partnerships - whether through professional collaboration or shared initiatives

• Sharing Conforto’s message - helping more women discover the support available

• Providing feedback - which shapes the growth of the organisation

Every act of support - big or small - helps create the kind of world Conforto envisions: one where women feel safe, supported, and empowered to heal.

At its heart, Conforto is a promise: a promise that women who have survived sexual violence deserve more than survival - they deserve restoration, empowerment, joy, options and comfort.

Conforto stands quietly but powerfully as a place where healing is honoured, voices are heard, and survivors are supported with compassion and steadiness. Its work is not to replace other services, but to offer another route.

For every woman who steps through its doors, receives a Comfort Gift, or finds solace in a Happy Post, Conforto is a reminder that healing is possible. That she is worthy. That she is seen.

And that she does not have to walk this path alone.