By Gil Harper
When someone in our community shares that they have been harmed, our first duty is clear: listen, believe, and act to keep them safe. For many survivors, faith communities are places of comfort and hope. They can also be places of judgement or silence. This is why faith spaces must intentionally become sanctuaries – places where survivors are supported, their choices honoured, and their access to professional help ensured.
Listening is a spiritual discipline. It means making room, keeping calm, and resisting the impulse to interrogate or minimise. Believe the person’s account and thank them for trusting you. Say plainly: “I believe you. You are not alone. I will help you find safety and support.” These words can be life-saving. Avoid questions that blame or pry into unnecessary details; instead focus on immediate needs and safety.
Survivor-centred action means centring the survivor’s autonomy. Offer options, explain possible next steps, and respect their decisions. This could include contacting emergency services if they are in immediate danger, connecting them to a trauma-informed counsellor, helping them access medical care, or assisting with legal referrals, always with the survivor’s consent. Faith communities should map local services in advance and maintain an up-to-date referral list so help can be prompt and effective.
Practical steps faith leaders and communities can take:
- Develop a simple, written safety and referral protocol. Make sure someone on leadership teams is trained to respond.
- Train volunteers and leaders in trauma-informed, confidential listening skills and mandatory reporting obligations where applicable.
- Create a confidential accompaniment system so survivors can have trusted support through processes (medical, legal, or reporting).
- Use public teaching moments to speak unequivocally against GBV and to frame protection as a moral and spiritual imperative.
- Build interfaith referral networks to expand options for survivors and share best practices.
Real change also includes prevention: teach about consent in youth programmes, model healthy relationships in family and community gatherings, and promote gender-equal leadership in faith institutions. When women and gender-diverse people hold visible roles and authority, harmful norms lose their power.
Finally, make space for healing. Interfaith prayer, meditation, and ritual can be part of a survivor’s recovery if offered with permission and sensitivity. These practices should never replace professional care but can complement it by providing community support.
Listening, believing, and acting are small words with enormous consequences. Faith communities that commit to these principles become places of refuge and transformation. This Women’s Month, commit your community to concrete, survivor-centred actions.