Survivors Blog
How Trauma Held in the Body Shapes Our Thoughts, Behaviours, and Vulnerabilities
Trauma isn’t just something that happened to us — it’s something that lives in us. It lives in our bodies, in the patterns we learned to survive, and in the emotions we pushed down because they were too much to hold at the time. When old wounds stay unhealed, they don’t disappear. They simply go…
Intergenerational Trauma Isn’t About Blame — It’s About Nervous Systems Doing Their Best
Why children self-soothe, why parents struggle, and how the 7Rs Pathways offer the route to repair We often talk about cycles in families as though they are rooted in deliberate choices or moral failings. But most intergenerational trauma has nothing to do with intentional harm. What truly passes…
When Survivors Heal, Systems Shift
Over the past few weeks, my posts about trauma have sparked some deep conversation and connection. Yet when I spoke about the challenges around funding, gatekeeping, and entrenched thinking within safeguarding systems, the response was very different — absolute silence. I’ve been reflecting on why…
When Prevention Work Isn’t Understood: A Call for Clarity in UK Safeguarding Funding
I want to share something important about the challenges we face in delivering grooming-prevention training across the UK. This is not about criticising any individual funder — it’s about highlighting a recurring pattern that affects prevention work nationally. We applied for funding for a…
Implying
I am not implying that people is positions of power and influence are directly involved in grooming rings and group based sexual exploitation of children and adults, I’m stating it as a known reality. I am not simply suggesting that those positions include legal and justice fields, police…
Making the Bed
I have a plan. One concocted with a trusted soul, out of need, want and care. One with direction, expansion and peace at the core. I want to make my bed. I want to sleep in my bed. I’m over 50 years old. I live in a 2 bedroom house. There’s just me and my dog here. I have a double bed and a single…
In 2 places at once
I recently sat with someone, a relative stranger, someone offering to collaborate and connect in the joint purpose and pursuit of protection and awareness. We talked about my story, a few parts of my life experience, about grooming rings and the need for inquiries and greater understanding. I told…
The Journey Before The Journey
If you’d asked me where A Positive Start began when I first started this work, I would’ve confidently said: “It began because of the domestic violence.” At the time, that felt true. It felt obvious. The dramatic moment. The crisis. The breaking point. The event that almost ended my life. But what I…
The TRUST Framework: Creating Truly Safe, Trauma-Informed Spaces
This framework is free to use in community, education, care and support settings. Please credit Deborah J Crozier & A Positive Start CIC when sharing or delivering. © 2021–2025 Deborah J Crozier, A Positive Start CIC. All Rights Reserved. Many spaces say they are trauma-informed because they…
Empathy Will Save Humanity
Why Feeling Deeply Is Not a Weakness, but Our Greatest Intelligence “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” — Hannah Arendt We are living through a time where empathy is being dismissed, numbed, and in places actively…