Lucy Duckworth

Lucy is an Honorary Visiting Fellow who was part of IPPPRI's Victim and Survivor Consultative Panel (VSCP).

Background

Lucy began adult life as a primary school teacher, working with children with severe special educational needs. The lack of a trauma-informed approach for these children frustrated and interested her, and so began the journey of additional training in therapeutic care alongside her voluntary work of chairing a small charity that supported adult survivors of sexual abuse within faith institutions.

This led to prominent campaigning, which became full-time 14 years ago. Lucy completed an MSc in Human Development, with a published thesis on the effects of sexual trauma on the child. Through frontline work of supporting survivors, she ran helplines and delivered training for staff across a variety of sectors.

Lucy is passionate about ensuring a lived experience voice is prominent in research, and has been involved in several research projects with universities around the country. She strives to ensure the research projects she works on can produce practical resources that enhance frontlines professionals’ daily practice; for example, a resource for trainee midwives to enhance their understanding of a trauma-informed approach when working with survivors of sexual abuse.

Lucy is passionate about working with government and researchers to identify gaps in understanding and ensure projects are used to provide vital evidence for a change in policy or law.

Lucy is currently London Training Manager at The Survivors Trust, managing the #CheckWithMeFirst programme, which runs workshops for NHS staff in working with survivors of sexual violence and operating in a trauma-informed way. She also works with colleagues to deliver accredited training and advice to a variety of stakeholders.

Lucy is skilled at delivering training and key messages to a range of audiences, regardless of their existing knowledge of the subject.