An anonymous survivor shares the devastating impact that uncertainty around the government's early release plans is having on their daily life. From sleepless nights and recurring nightmares to fears for their safety, this powerful reflection highlights the lasting trauma survivors can face long after a conviction.

When the defence raised sexsomnia, Jade Blue's rape trial was stopped just 13 days before it was due to begin. Years later, following a successful Victims' Right to Review and legal action against the CPS, new guidance has been introduced to help prosecutors more robustly scrutinise sexsomnia claims and expert evidence. In this personal reflection, she explores why the update matters and what it could mean for future cases.

Years spent navigating the justice system taught me how to advocate for myself. What I didn't expect was to need many of those same skills when seeking answers about my own health. A personal reflection on women's health, self-advocacy, and the similarities between two very different systems.

At 12 years old, Ava was groomed and raped by a 16-year-old boy. Despite a guilty plea and conviction, she was left feeling unprotected, unheard, and failed by the very systems meant to safeguard her. This anonymous account explores the lasting impact of abuse, institutional failures, and the reality of seeking justice as a child.

An anonymous reflection submitted to Make Yourself Heard after seeing recent statistics showing fewer than 3 in 100 rape cases may end in a charge. The piece explores trust, reporting, and the emotional reality many survivors face when navigating the justice system.

A reflection on what it really means to navigate the justice system - the endurance it takes, the gaps it reveals, and why speaking out matters. Because when voices come together, change becomes possible, and fewer people have to go through it alone.

Make Yourself Heard - however that looks for you.
No pressure, no perfect words. Just starting somewhere.

This anonymous submission explores what that can feel like in real life.

Ten years of being tracked, controlled, and isolated.
This survivor account shows how stalking can begin early, escalate behind closed doors, and shape daily life in ways that are hard to see from the outside - and even harder to escape.

A recent investigation has exposed online spaces where men share advice on drugging, assaulting and recording women - at a scale that’s hard to ignore. It’s easy to see this as extreme, but it reflects patterns many survivors already recognise. What’s being uncovered isn’t separate from the system - it’s part of it.

I walked into a pub and came face to face with the person who raped me - a moment I’d feared for years, unsure whether it would undo the work it’s taken to get here. Remarkably, it didn’t break me.

This is a deeply personal account of what it means to seek justice - and what happens when the system cannot hold that weight. Georgie shares the reality of delay, trauma, and the lasting impact of being let down by the very process meant to protect.

Vicki shares a personal reflection shaped by lived experience of delay and systemic failure. What began as uncertainty around reform became a clearer understanding of what change could actually offer.

In Not the Perfect Victim, Anna Kahill reflects on how trauma, silence and a late autism diagnosis shaped her understanding of a rape that happened when she was nineteen. The piece challenges the narrow expectations placed on victims and the myth that there is such a thing as a “perfect victim.”

Reflections from a really special International Women’s Day weekend - from hosting our MYH x Victims’ Commissioner gathering to marching at Million Women Rise. A reminder of how powerful it is when people come together, share space, and make themselves heard.

This week has felt particularly meaningful for Make Yourself Heard. For the first time, a national feature has focused not only on my own experience, but on the campaign and the purpose behind Make Yourself Heard itself.

Thousands of trials pushed to 2028 and beyond. Rape cases listed years away.

As the debate focuses on jury trials and constitutional principle, the human cost of delay risks being sidelined. If reform doesn’t centre victims, it won’t fix what’s broken.

On the Construction Sport podcast, Jan speaks candidly about being assaulted at work, the isolation that followed, and why the construction industry must redefine safety to include dignity, accountability and protection from harm.

There is a growing recognition that lived experience matters. Survivors are invited into rooms that were once closed to them - police working groups, advisory panels, consultations, and roundtables. On paper, this looks like progress.

In practice, too often it isn’t.

When the Epstein files came out, people talked about them like they were a revelation. New details. New shock. New outrage. But if you’re someone who’s lived through abuse, it doesn’t feel new at all.

Women and girls have been saying what happened for years. They reported it. They spoke up. They tried to warn people. Most of the time, they weren’t believed, or they were quietly pushed aside.

Imposter syndrome is often treated as a private insecurity - something to overcome quietly before you show up publicly. But in advocacy, it isn’t a side issue. It’s part of the work.

It shows up not because you’re underqualified, but because the ground is unstable. Advocacy often asks people with lived experience to translate pain into policy language, to compress years of harm into a few minutes of “constructive contribution,” and to speak calmly about systems that failed them - repeatedly. That tension creates doubt.