In episode 262 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Duncan Craig OBE.
Duncan is the Founder and CEO of We Are Survivors (WAS), formerly known as Survivors Manchester.
We first checked in with Duncan in JCIP #147 where we charted his journey starting the charity many years ago, being recognised for his work with an Order of The British Empire (OBE), the conversation at that point for male survivors of abuse, Duncan’s own story of survivorship and all of the emotions associated with that alongside his sexuality as a gay man.
In Part 2 of Duncan’s journey, we discuss: the state of play today in the conversation around male survivors, why organisations like WAS bridge the gap between the rhetoric of ‘reach out’ vs the reality of what support there is for male survivors when they do reach out and are male survivors still counted as victims of Violence Against Women and Girls?
We also discuss his work with the new Labour government and the work WAS do in prisons and the relationship between abuse and the prison pathway.
We then move onto the portrayal of stories of male abuse in popular media. We discuss the role that popular shows like Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, as well as Channel 5’s ‘My Wife: My Abuser’ in highlighting these stories, as well as the complexities around public consumption of these very heavy topics.
For Duncan’s continued mental health journey, we discuss his growth in understanding of awareness of his own survivorship and a period of depression he went through in 2022 and how he recovered from it.
We finish the topic by exploring his feelings around his role as CEO of WAS and the decisions he is contemplating around when is the right time to step down from it, and the danger of staying too long as a Founder of a business.
As always, #itsokaytovent
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TRIGGER WARNING: This podcast contains a discussion about sexual abuse, which some listeners may find upsetting or distressing, so please listen with caution.
