The Resilience Fund
RECOVERY SHOULDN’T BE A LUXURY
Recovery is often a luxury, and those without money can’t afford to meet basic needs for actual care. Classism is rarely spoken about in the recovery and wellbeing world but it influences everything. This is why we started The Resilience Fund, to support survivors to easily access mini-grants to help with the basics and radical care treats. This is and always has been the core to our project.
Part of having control and choice around trauma recovery involves being able to access things that you know might help. That can look wildly different for each person.
Our Resilience Fund was the original idea from which SLEEC was built. It started as a way to challenge the structures and systems that have been designed that mean we must prove our deservability or our poverty in order to access financial support. It was started as a way for survivors and those with lived experience of rape and sexual violence, domestic violence and abuse, male violence and state violence to have agency in how we take care of ourselves through healing and recovery.
We don’t determine or judge what that looks like or how this fund gets used.
Funded solely through donations, The Resilience Fund remains independent and true to its mission of mutual aid. We don’t determine who gets to access it: if money is in the pot it is simply redistributed as and when our community requests it.
The Resilience Fund is about more than just meeting immediate needs; it’s about nurturing the idea that we know what we need to take care of ourselves and not having to prove that to anyone.
Who is it for
You do not have to identify with the term “survivor” as we are very aware it is a loaded word with many unhelpful connotations and assumptions attached to it.
It is for anyone who has experienced rape, sexual violence, sexual abuse or sexual assault of any kind regardless of how minor you may perceive it to be. It is for any gender or age.
We believe you should never compare or measure your trauma or “deservability” to others. You and your experiences are entirely valid.
You can also apply on behalf of someone else or nominate someone you think could do with a mini grant – simply email us and ask. We do this to be as inclusive as possible as for some of us the idea of asking for support for ourselves is difficult, particularly when we are taught constantly to compare ourselves, our experiences and our worth to others, and we don’t always have the tools to unlearn that immediately.
What kind of things is it for
It is for the basics, for the emergencies and for pleasure and joy!
Anything that will make you feel great, feel like a gift, give you a break or just make your day that bit easier because you fucking deserve it.
We do not determine what this means to you, it could be anything. Maybe you want to go to the cinema, buy some lavender oil, buy yourself some flowers or a plant, buy a bottle of prosecco, have a swim, buy a new pillow, get a takeaway, buy some great underwear, buy a sex toy, pay a nagging bill, go to a dance class, buy some herbal tinctures, get some phone credit, buy a massive cake, get a new book, take your friend for a coffee, buy some bath salts, get the bus, buy some art materials, go to a gig, cook for a friend or just for some extra cash in your pocket for a spontaneous treat. It is for anything that will give you a little bit of joy, time or relief to build and maintain your resilience.
There will be no judgement and no expectation to tell how you intend to spend the money.
Currently due to limited funds we only have £20 grants available but we hope to very soon offer larger amounts each month.
This is so that people can hopefully soon afford things like a big food shop, travelling long distance, bigger bills, counselling, massage, acupuncture, or any other pricier support needs.
It can also be a loan if you prefer.
You are more than welcome to apply more than once however we ask you to please wait at least a month before reapplying. This is so we can prioritise those that haven’t applied before. If you apply regularly, please know that sometimes we might not be able to grant you the money when the fund is low as we have to make sure those that haven’t used the Resilience Fund before have access to the grants.
History
As survivors without money, who had no financial help to support our recovery from trauma, we experienced first-hand the difficulties around meeting our basic needs at a time where this was most important.
Access to free/subsided support or financial aid is scarce and you often have to “victimise” yourself and show you are “deserving” by disclosing your oppression, experience and vulnerabilities on lengthy forms which is very disempowering. It is particularly damaging when we, as survivors, can already feel unworthy and find it hard to accept help. This type of support also controls how you have to access the service, what you are allowed to ask for financial support for and give evidence of how you spend the money.
We decided what is desperately needed is an open fund that survivors could dip into to support anything that helps self-care and resilience, with no judgment or expectation. A fund where you can literally take out just ten pounds the same day to get some nice food, phone credit or a taxi to see a friend.
