We are pleased to be part of this year’s European Mental Health Conference. Taking place in Prague from 9 September to 11 September, the conference promotes collaboration across sectors and services to deepen understanding of mental health. Participants can share learning from a range of areas including research, practice development, projects and personal experience.
Sara Zielinska, Programmes Manager at Redress Support Service, and Flora Henderson, Alliance Director at In Care Survivors Alliance, will be leading a presentation at the conference. Here, Sara and Flora will be discussing ‘Building a Psychological Floor for Justice: Trauma Informed Support for Survivors of Historical Child Abuse in Care.’
For many people who experienced child abuse in care settings, seeking justice through the redress process is not simply an administrative process. Whether accessing childhood records or applying for redress, people are often asked to revisit experiences that they have spent years learning to live with. Whilst these processes can bring recognition and validation, they can also surface powerful memories and emotions, triggering distress, shame, anger and trauma responses.
Throughout such a process, people need space to understand how seeking justice may impact their mental health and wellbeing, and consider how they might cope when distressing memories or emotions surface. Link Workers at Penumbra Mental Health provide this vital support through the Redress Support Service.
In ‘Building a Psychological Floor for Justice’, Sara and Flora will consider how safety and stability is built into the support journey so that people no longer face a stark choice between seeking justice and protecting their mental health. At Redress Support Service and In Care Survivors Alliance, we want to strengthen the support available to people with lived experience of abuse and neglect, while sharing our learning to encourage wider system change.
Redress Support Service is delivered by the In Care Survivors Alliance. The Alliance comprises four partners: Health in Mind, Penumbra Mental Health, Glasgow Psychological Trauma Service and Scottish Government.
Building a Psychological Floor for Justice: Trauma Informed Support for Survivors of Historical Child Abuse in Care
11 September 2026
10:20-10:40
As part of European Mental Health Conference 2026
9 – 11 September, 2026
An annual event and learning platform for people working or interested in understanding more about mental health.
