Inclusion & Accessability

Our Commitment

At The Survivors Circle, we are committed to actively embodying an accessible, inclusive, and accountable culture in everything we do.

We believe that healing belongs to you. Our spaces are held for women, non-binary, trans and gender-diverse survivors who have experienced gender-based violence and who feel aligned with our work.

As a queer and neurodivergent-led organisation, our work is rooted in both lived and professional experience. We have seen and felt the barriers that exist when support isn’t inclusive, and we are determined to create something different - a space where all survivors feel safe enough to show up as themselves.

We understand that inclusion and accessibility are not fixed concepts; they are living, evolving practices that grow as we learn, listen, and adapt.

Why Accessibility and Inclusion Matter to Us

Our work has been created from the lived and professional experience as practitioners and survivors of domestic abuse, combined with clinical, trauma-informed, and brain-body based practices.

We know what it’s like to walk away from services and spaces that don't feel safe, affirming, or accessible. We also know how powerful it can be when a space does feel like it was made with you in mind.

That’s why inclusion, accessibility, and psychological safety are at the heart of everything we do.

We actively welcome feedback, encourage honest conversations, and remain open to learning because doing better starts with listening.

What You Can Expect From Us

We are committed to ensuring that The Survivors Circle is actively an inclusive, accessible, and accountable space for all survivors regardless of gender identity, sexuality, faith, ethnicity, disability, or any other marginalisation.

Joining our programmes, retreats, or groups means you are part of an actively inclusive environment. Together, we learn from each other, unlearn bias, and hold space for diversity in all its forms.

We welcome feedback, we listen, and we adapt. Because inclusion is a dynamic practice.

Our Commitments

For Retreats and In-Person Gatherings

We never question or police someone’s gender identity or expression.
Our spaces are open to women, trans, non-binary and gender-diverse survivors who connect with our mission and values.
While many participants may be women, our spaces welcome gender diverse survivors who align with the work and community.
We share venue accessibility information in advance, including parking, level access, sensory environments, and breakout spaces.
We ask before attendance how we can support you, including accessibility, sensory needs, dietary requirements, pronouns, and any other adjustments.
Our team receives trauma-informed and inclusion training to ensure we can hold space safely and respectfully.
We will take action against discrimination, harassment, or exclusionary behaviour of any kind.

For Online Courses and Community Spaces

Our online materials are provided in a range of formats including text, audio, captioned video, and transcripts where possible.
Our website includes alt text, plain text options, and an accessibility plug in to adjust font size, colour contrast, and layout.
We aim to meet or exceed WCAG and W3C standards for digital accessibility within the next 2 years.
We use clear, plain language and avoid overwhelming design or long-form content to support neurodivergent learners.
We provide grounding and regulation guidance throughout our content to support emotional safety.
For All Survivors Circle Services
We ask about pronouns, access requirements, and additional needs during onboarding and offer a further enquiry or onboarding call to help us establish how we can support you best and meet your accessibility and inclusion requirements.
We value diversity in our team and facilitators, with lived experience across gender, neurodivergence, race, and disability.
We invite anonymous feedback and actively implement suggestions from underrepresented groups.
We keep inclusion and accessibility information visible and easy to access, not hidden behind requests.

Our Commitment to Working With a Range of Marginalised Genders

At The Survivors Circle, we are deeply committed to creating spaces that are inclusive of, and welcoming to, trans and non-binary survivors of domestic abuse alongside women.

Our values are rooted in inclusivity for all marginalised genders including women, trans, and non-binary people and we actively work to ensure our environments, language, and practices reflect that.

The Survivors Circle programme has been founded and developed from a place of lived and professional experience working with female survivors of domestic abuse and is evolving in consultation to further include trans and non-binary people. The content has been carefully created to support survivors who share these intersecting experiences, drawing on both clinical expertise and embodied understanding.

While the core principles of the programme nervous system regulation, trauma recovery, rebuilding safety, and reconnecting with self have resonance, relevance, and value for all survivors, we recognise that there are specific experiences and systemic factors unique to trans and non-binary people that extend beyond the facilitators’ current lived experience and scope of practice.

As qualified and experienced practitioners, we are guided by professional ethics and a clear duty of care. This means we work within our professional remit to maintain both psychological safety and best practice.

There is no exclusion risk to trans or non-binary survivors participating in our work.

You are welcome here. However, we acknowledge that aspects of the content particularly those framed around the experiences of women within patriarchal systems may not always fully reflect the realities or intersections of trans and non-binary survivors. We are deeply committed to ensuring that these are shared with gender neutral language and gender diverse experiences alongside this framework and is an evolving practice we are working to refine and improve for all.

Accessibility and Inclusion Measures

To help overcome some of these accessibility and inclusion barriers, we have consulted with members of the LGBTQIA+ community with lived experience as trans and non-binary people. This consultation, combined with our own lived and professional experience of working with women and female survivors, has informed the way we shape and deliver our work.

Our goal is to ensure that we are able to provide a sense of perceived psychological safety for everyone who participates, regardless of gender identity.

To support this, we offer the following measures:

A short enquiry or onboarding call for anyone who would like to explore whether the space and programme delivery are right for them. This supports informed choice and helps us fulfil our duty to the whole community by prioritising psychological safety. To book one of these contact us [email]
An open feedback process that welcomes reflections on inclusion and accessibility so we can continue to learn, adapt, and improve.
A commitment to ongoing consultation from all, with a focus on those who hold lived experience different from our own, ensuring that our work continues to evolve in alignment with inclusive practice.

We also want to be clear that, in widening access to all marginalised genders, we equally honour the experiences of women including those who have survived gender-based violence, coercive control, and patriarchy-based trauma. Holding space for inclusivity does not diminish or dilute women’s experiences; rather, it expands the circle of care so that everyone who needs it can belong.

If, while participating in the programme, you identify a need for additional or specialist support relating to your gender identity or specific lived experience, we will always respond with care and integrity. Our team will offer to refer or signpost you to specialist organisations or practitioners better placed to meet that aspect of your recovery journey and review how you may be supported by the remit of our work best. This may involve a recommendation to move to a programme delivered in a different format that meets your specific needs better.

We believe that inclusivity requires both honesty and humility. We are not a specialist trans or non-binary recovery service, but we are a space that seeks to remain safe, affirming, and accountable, and we are continuously learning how to better serve all survivors.

Accessibility Support

We know that inclusion and accessibility are not static. They evolve as our understanding grows.
If there is something that is not working for you, or if you need an adjustment we have not thought of yet, please tell us.

We would love to work with you to make it right.

SHORT SUMMARY OF INCLUSION STATEMENT

At The Survivors Circle, everyone deserves a place to heal. Our work was created from the lived and professional experience of women who’ve survived domestic abuse, and our values centre inclusion for women, trans and non-binary survivors alike.

While our programme isn’t a specialist space for gender-affirming recovery, it’s built to be safe, affirming and trauma-informed for all. We offer short enquiry calls, consultation with LGBTQIA+ voices, and clear signposting if specialist support is needed.

Expanding access doesn’t take anything away from women, it simply widens the circle so every survivor can find safety and belonging.