At 15, Chloe was a bright and engaging student, well-liked and popular amongst her peers.

Then she was sexually assaulted at a party and she began to rebel against everyone around her and started to use drugs and alcohol placing herself at continued risk.

Chloe was offered support from a variety of agencies but would not engage. Her parents came to Talk... Don’t Walk as they feared what would happen, if Chloe continued this behaviour.

Initially, it was Chloe’s parents who came to Talk... Don’talk and had one-to-one sessions came together for mediation. However, we felt that no further progress could be made until Chloe engaged too.

Chloe was finally persuaded to attend and through working with her support worker, began to realize that she did not provoke the sexual assault and that she was not too blame.

We continued to support Chloe and her family and life at home started to improve.

After one-to-one sessions with Chloe, all the family were brought together for mediation, boundaries were negotiated between all concerned and after initial teething troubles, Chloe’s behaviour began to improve.

We worked with PHAZE to address Chloe’s substance and alcohol misuse.

Chloe returned to school and began to form positive relationships again with her peers. We regularly keep in touch with Chloe and she is aware as are her parents that they can return to the project at any time.

More real life stories