Survivors Leading Essential Education & Change CIC

SLEEC (Survivors Leading Essential Education & Change) is a survivor-led organisation dedicated to tackling the root causes of male violence and rape culture. Entirely led by those with lived experience of rape, domestic abuse, and male violence, we began as a grassroots project in 2019 and officially registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in June 2023. Our Impact in 2024-2025 During the financial year, SLEEC has benefited the community in the following ways: Survivor Support Community: We provided a free, year-long online support group meeting biweekly for survivors, particularly those with disabilities, neurodiversity, financial instability, or multiple access needs. SLEEC Surgery: Our Advocacy Surgery was launched to support survivors rights to access and navigate support. First Response and Emergency Support in Bristol: We provided emotional support, advice, and signposting as well as security equipment and items to over 215 survivors who had been raped, sexually assaulted, recently left abusive relationships, or were in unstable accommodation and financial situations. Workshops & Education: We focused this year on developing our courses for men and our workshops for our new SCHOOL OF CARE LIBERATION & DISRUPTION Programme. We delivered 16 workshops and courses led by experts with lived experience on topics such as male violence, rape culture, radical accountability, safety, liberation, healing and collective care. These workshops reached over 350 individuals. Consultation with stakeholders SLEEC’s primary stakeholders are survivors of rape, sexual violence, and male violence across the UK, with a particular focus on Bristol and the Southwest. All our directors and team members have lived experience of rape, sexual violence, and domestic abuse, come from working-class backgrounds, as well as other intersecting oppressions, ensuring that the voices of those we work for are at the core of all our work. This year, we saw a: 57% increase in men accessing our work 61% increase in chronically ill or disabled delivering our work. 62% increase in single parents accessing our work How We Consult Our Stakeholders We have built an active network of over 100 survivors across the UK, and a local network of roughly 80 survivors from Bristol, whom we regularly consult with on our work and issues facing our community. We specifically centre the experiences and needs of those facing multiple barriers and oppressions. Feedback & Surveys: We use social media, online networks, and direct questionnaires to gather survivor feedback. Anonymous feedback forms ensure continuous improvement of our services. We had 2 longer national surveys distributed over the last year; one to research survivors' experiences with support, access to services and rights and one to research men’s understanding of male violence and rape culture. This is currently being reviewed to inform our next projects.