Our history

The Male Survivors Partnership began as an idea in 2012 when a handful of professionals working in survivor based organisations began talking about working together for the good of male survivors.

In 2013, following the announcement of a fund that prevented organisations working specifically with males from applying, those very same professionals came together with others to lobby the government to recognise the needs of boys and men as victims/survivors of sexual offences.

The effort these individuals made resulted in many discussions with senior government officials and in 2014, the Ministry of Justice announcing the first-ever fund specifically for working with male victims/survivors – The Male Rape Support Fund, and a national awareness-raising campaign that included a specially commissioned short film made with Hollyoaks highlighting male sexual violence.

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Team
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Our member organisations are listed on our Membership page

With the dialogue now open and more organisations wanting to talk about meeting the needs of male survivors, in 2016, the CEO’s of Safeline, and Mankind created a ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ which would in essence, provide a central commitment by each to work together to keep the national conversation going and increase the awareness, knowledge and support to meet the needs of male victims and survivors.

Today, the Male Survivors Partnership continues to grow and has become the national umbrella agency for organisations working with boys and men affected by unwanted sexual attention, whilst recognising its duty to ensure a single point of reference exists for male survivors themselves to find national, regional and local support.

Male Survivors Partnership members are registered with Companies House, the Charity Commission or the CIC Regulator, which means those organisations have a level of legal accountability, and have signed the MSP Term’s of Reference.

Members and the partnership itself is committed to ensuring that all males, regardless of legal gender status, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, class or other protected characteristic can access support; and adhere to the ethos of supporting organisations working with girls and women rather than negating them.

The Board

The Male Survivors Partnership board has the responsibility of governing the organisation, ensuring it is acting legally, ethically and to its strategic plan. The Trustees are:

Neil Henderson

Co-Founder and Chair

Darren Langdridge

Siobhan Weare

Neil is Chief Executive of Safeline, a specialist sexual abuse charity that helps prevent abuse and supports anyone affected by it. He spent most of his career working for Royal Mail in various executive roles and he is now using his commercial and corporate governance experience to enable Safeline to effectively protect and support more people affected by sexual abuse. In 2014, Safeline supported 1,000 individuals, in 2017, which increased to 15,000. Safeline operates the National Male Helpline and Online service which has transformed support for thousands of boys and men affected by sexual abuse.

Darren is Professor of Psychology at the Open University (UK), and a United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) accredited existential psychotherapist. He has also previously been Visiting Professor at Aalborg University, Denmark (2011-18) and Seattle University, USA (2014). He has acted as Head of Department of Psychology and established the teaching of counselling at the OU.

For many years Darren has researched and written on sex, sexualities, masculinities and health, publishing in excess of 100 books, papers and book chapters. Most recently, Darren has been focusing his research on male survivors of adult sexual assault, with a scoping review on the topic just published. He also has a keen interest in public engagement with academic research. This includes work as academic consultant on the OU/BBC television co-production Prejudice and Pride and co-leading the Art of Relationships project, designed to engage the public with social scientific research.

Dr Siobhan Weare is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Lancaster University Law School. She is co-leading the JiCSAV (Justice in Covid-19 for Sexual Abuse and Violence) project funded by the ESRC/UKRI Rapid Response to Covid-19. Siobhan researches in the area of criminal law and criminal justice, and she has conducted the first research project in the UK on forced-to-penetrate cases, capturing the experiences of male survivors. She has been awarded funding from the British Academy to support this work.

Siobhan’s research has been published in leading international journals and has also received extensive media coverage, including on the BBC, Channel 4 News, and LBC Radio. Her research has influenced both policy and practice related to supporting male survivors of sexual violence. Further information and Siobhan’s publications can be accessed here.

Mike Hartill

Lucy Hughes

Mike Hartill is Professor of Sociology of Sport at Edge Hill University (Department of Social Sciences) and director of the Centre for Child Protection and Safeguarding in Sport (CPSS).

Mike has conducted research into child sexual exploitation in sport for the past fifteen years, working on a number of national and international projects aimed at preventing abuse of children in sport. He has been particularly influential in highlighting the sexual abuse of boys within sports contexts. Amongst research articles and book chapters, he authored ‘Sexual abuse in youth sport: a sociocultural analysis’ published by Routledge in 2016. Mike has also delivered higher education programmes on child welfare in sport since 2002.

Recent projects include the VOICE Project – a collaboration between eight European countries focused on the experiences of victims of sexual abuse in sport. Mike is currently leading the project CASES (Child Abuse in Sport: European Statistics) which investigates prevalence of child abuse and neglect in sport across six European countries.

Mike works with a wide range of organisations such as Sport England, the NWG Network, Lime Culture, the Child Protection in Sport Unit, and Survivors Manchester. Mike serves as an academic expert on sexual violence and safeguarding in sport for the Council of Europe and the European Union.

He recently served as the child protection in sport expert for the English Football Association’s independent review into allegations of child sexual abuse in football (Sheldon, 2021) and provided expert testimony for a House of Lords Select Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation (April, 2021).

Mike has also been instrumental in establishing Sport England’s newly formed Safeguarding Advisory Panel, served by a group of men and women with lived experience of sexual abuse in sport.

Sam, a survivor himself, has engaged with media worldwide to share his story in a bid to encourage other men to break their silence and seek support. He has focused on challenging some of the myths surrounding male rape using his own experience to channel more progressive and forward-thinking conversations.

He has been an advisor and facilitator to a number of panels and projects in the UK, including Coronation Street on the David Platt storyline, which featured elements of his own story. Sam also participated in BAFTA nominated documentary “Raped: My Story” and last year he became an Ambassador for Survivors Manchester. Sam also contributed to and featured in the Victim Strategy which was launched earlier this year.

Lucy is co-CEO of Mankind UK, a Sussex based charity which supports adult male survivors of sexual abuse and assault through therapy, group work and the delivery of the 1in6.uk website.

She is an integrative psychotherapist who specialises in working with neuro-diverse people, particularly autistic people.

Her earlier career background was in organisational development and roles within membership bodies such as the National Council of Voluntary Organisations and Unison Trade Union have given her a passion for collective action which she will bring to bear when advocating on behalf of the members of MSP.

Our Team

Gary Pleece

CEO

Gary Pleece is the CEO of MSP and is an experienced business and marketing consultant who has worked with charities, commercial enterprises and non profits for many years, providing strategic planning and consultancy at board level.

Gary is also a survivor, volunteers for charities and has worked at MankindUK and 1in6UK for a three year period, providing strategic marketing, planning and delivery services. He also runs a non profit CIC for disenfranchised communities.

Contact Us

Male Survivors helpline:
0808 800 5005

Monday 9am – 8pm
Tuesday 8am – 8pm
Wednesday 9am – 8pm
Thursday 8am – 8pm
Friday 9am – 8pm
Saturday 10am – 2pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

Email

Membership enquires, press/media, or to contact a member of the team, please email hello@malesurvivor.co.uk.

Social Media

Address

(Registered Office)
Male Survivors Partnership
c/o Safeline
6a New Street
Warwick, CV34 4RX

Our history