HAVOCA at 25: A Quarter Century of Survivors, Support and Strength

This year marks 25 years since HAVOCA first began offering support, friendship and advice to adults affected by childhood abuse.
What started back in 2001 as a small voluntary website has grown into a worldwide community of ...

New Blog: Why Progress Can Feel Like Loneliness

Healing isn’t always loud or visible. Sometimes progress arrives as silence — and that quiet can feel unsettling.
Our latest post explores why calm can feel like emptiness, and how this phase is actually part of integration, not regression.

“The ...

Youre welcome! And thank you for thanking me

Hi everyone,

You may have noticed a short period of downtime earlier today. This was planned maintenance while we updated the forum to the latest phpBB release (version 3.3.17).

This update was important because it included several security fixes — including one critical issue — along with ...

Participants Needed for a Project About Childhood Trauma and Mental Health
University of Birmingham – Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health

The project aims to understand what enables people who have experienced childhood trauma to maintain or restore their mental health into ...

lost_ember wrote: Sat May 23, 2026 8:48 pm Not making any promises but I can give it a try.

Sorry, only just seen this, if you are still willing to give it a go, can you PM please?

Have you experienced childhood abuse or neglect by a caregiver?
This research study invites adults to share their personal experiences with spirituality, relationships, mental health, and childhood maltreatment.

Who can join?
Adults aged 18+ who are legally independent, fluent in English, and who ...

When the World Cup comes around, it’s often described as something that brings everyone together.

But for survivors, it’s rarely that simple.

Some people love it — the structure, the distraction, the sense of connection.
Some people don’t enjoy football at all.
And others sit somewhere in ...

New: Survivor Survey Insights Published

I’ve just published the latest findings from our ongoing survivor experience survey, and I wanted to share them here for discussion.
The results reinforce some consistent themes:

Abuse is often ongoing rather than one-off
It is frequently linked to known ...

Hi everyone,

We’ve been approached with an advance reader copy of a new book titled Forgiving Dr. Jekyll. Before we consider adding it to HAVOCA’s recommended resources list, we need to be confident that it’s genuinely helpful, safe, and appropriate for survivors.

I’m looking for a small group of ...

New Blog Post: Micro‑Recovery – The Smallest Possible Steps That Actually Move Healing Forward

Many survivors feel overwhelmed by the idea of “healing properly”. Big goals can trigger shutdown, shame, or the freeze response. Micro‑recovery offers a different path: tiny, nervous‑system‑friendly ...

New Blog Post: How to Rebuild Trust in Yourself After Trauma

Childhood trauma doesn’t just take moments from us — it takes trust.
Trust in others.
Trust in safety.
And most painfully, trust in ourselves.

Our latest HAVOCA blog explores why self‑trust is so often damaged by childhood abuse, how ...

New Blog Post: When Silence Hurts Twice
by Lee Reinecke

Silence can protect — but it can also wound.
For many survivors, the deepest pain isn’t only the abuse itself, but the silence that follows:
the denial, the minimisation, the refusal to acknowledge what happened.

Our latest HAVOCA blog ...

HAVOCA Survivor Survey — Latest Results Now Live (and the survey is still open)
We’ve just updated the Survivor Survey Results, reflecting the most recent responses from our community. With over 16,900 survivors taking part so far, this continues to be one of the largest survivor‑led datasets of its ...

New Blog Post: When the Past Feels Present – Understanding Trauma Echoes

Many survivors describe moments where something inside them shifts without warning — a sudden heaviness, a drop in mood, or a sense that something is “off” without knowing why. These experiences can feel confusing or ...