Our CEO Paul McAnulty joined Bev Wakefield from Vibrant Accountancy on her podcast Behind the Numbers, to share his personal story of exploitation and difficult childhood and the decisions he has made along the way. His view is that, at any point in our lives, we make the best decision we can with the information and capacity we have at the time. Paul also spoke about modern slavery and how the work of Rebuild East Midlands supports survivors move forwards with their lives, breaking the cycle of exploitation.
Here is an extract from the conversation:
“Rebuild East Midlands is an organization focused on restoring hope and rebuilding futures. We have a principle where we don’t ask a survivor about their past. We don’t ask them about their exploitation. We ask them about their future. Once you know about it, it’s really hard not to want to do something to abolish it once and for all.
We are always led by the needs of the individual.
We provide complex long-term advocacy for people, supporting them with a whole raft of needs and outcomes.
Looking after their immediate wellbeing needs, physiological needs, slowly getting to try to get them to this point of self-esteem and self-actualisation where they can autonomously move forward with their own lives.
I think the best moment for us is when someone turns round to us and says, “I think I can go to this appointment on my own. I don’t think I need you”. That for us is the best feeling ever.
I think every single one of our survivors that comes through the doors is demonstrating hope – they wouldn’t be here otherwise. And as freedom and recovery isn’t a linear journey, we understand that trauma can just it can just bubble up in the most unexpected of ways and they might relapse every now and then. But they’re doing the hard work, they’ve walked through the door, and that’s the first step that is going to take them towards their preferred future.”
To see the full interview, you can follow the link below https://bit.ly/4b65kMH?r=qr
