+
Exit +
+

  • We believe in the healing power
    of community

    Healing is complex, non-linear and unique to us all, but it’s a journey we can navigate together. See what others have already shared on 'Your Healing', or use some of our prompts to Share Your Journey:

    What Has Your Healing Journey Taught You?
    E.g. “I’ve learned I’m stronger than I give myself credit for.”

    What Challenges Have You Faced?
    E.g. “Coping with the highs and lows of healing has been exhausting.”

    What's Been Helpful For Your Healing?
    E.g. “Journaling helps me process emotions. Therapy's been a game-changer for me.”

    What Have You Let Go Of?
    E.g. “I’ve let go of the belief that I’m broken, damaged and defined by my trauma.”

    Any Wisdom For Survivors?
    E.g. “One day at a time—setbacks are normal.”

    Want To Ask The Community?
    E.g. “What’s one thing you wish you had known at the start of your healing journey?”

  •  

Working together to support survivors

Beyond Surviving works alongside other service providers and professionals to help survivors find the support they are looking for. Our partners include, but are not limited to, frontline and specialist service providers, counselors and therapists, general practitioners, to community organisations and charities.

What partnerships make possible

Survivors find the right support

Professional support partners can introduce a survivor to Beyond Surviving when a survivor-led peer community may be right for them.

Information Sharing

Share our survivor-facing information, and survivors register with us directly. There is no referral form for you to complete.

Survivors remain in control

Our self-referral approach means survivors choose whether, when and how to reach in, guided by their own needs and pace.

Connections work both ways

We complement, and never replace, frontline crisis services. Partners help survivors find us, and we help survivors reach you.

About Beyond Surviving

Who we are

Beyond Surviving is Ireland’s survivor-led peer community for life beyond surviving. We were founded in 2023 by Ciara Mangan, herself a survivor of sexual violence, for adult women affected by sexual violence and domestic abuse.

What we do

Survivor Tea & Chats, our online peer-support groups, run weekly. Survivor Support Groups meet in person in Dublin, Galway and Mayo. We also run wellbeing workshops, and opportunities for survivors to support other survivors, shape our work and advocate for change.

Why we exist

Healing is a lifelong journey. Survivors tell us what they are looking for is people who simply ‘get it’, somewhere to belong and to be understood without judgement. We exist to support survivors as they reclaim and build a life beyond surviving.

How we support

Survivors take part alongside counselling or other specialist supports, or come to us years after they have finished, whether their experience was recent or long ago. There is no cost, and they stay for as long as they find it useful.

Survivors’ readiness in their own words

“I don’t want to keep retelling my story.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“I want to start building my life and future. To move forward.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“Still, I didn’t reach out to the Rape Crisis Centre. They already do so much. I didn’t want to take up space.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“There is no one I can talk to about how it affects me other than my counsellor at the Rape Crisis Centre, and I remember a feeling of panic at the thought of not having that contact.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“It was exactly what I needed at the right time. This journey has been so lonely even though I’m surrounded by amazing people. For the first time in my life, I felt less alone in what happened to me.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“Beyond Surviving is different because it focuses on the living and reclaiming of our lives beyond crisis and allows us to feel less alone.”
SurvivorBYS community member
“I want people who simply understand and ‘get it’. Others just don’t fully understand.”
SurvivorBYS community member

Information and resources

Download our service information and e-leaflet below to help you introduce Beyond Surviving to the survivors you support. For printed BYS Partner Packs and service leaflets to keep in your service, get in touch.

You are also welcome to point survivors to our website. Connect with Survivors lists our groups and how to register, and What to Expect answers the questions survivors most often have before joining for the first time.

E-leaflet
contact us

Frequent questions

  • Yes. Our registered charity number is 20206738.

  • Yes. All our programmes and services are free of charge.

  • You can download our service information and e-leaflet directly from this webpage. For printed BYS Partner Packs and service leaflets to keep in your service, get in touch by emailing us at info@beyondsurviving.ie.

  • Email info@beyondsurviving.ie. We aim to respond within three working days.

  • Yes, for general questions about our survivor-led peer community and how it works. If you would like to help a survivor make contact, you can share our service information with them, or direct them to our website where they can reach in themselves.

  • We arrange a short introductory call, usually about 15 minutes, so survivors can hear more about Beyond Surviving and decide for themselves whether it is right for them. It’s a conversation about us, not an assessment of them.

    Places in all our groups are offered in registration order, so there may be a wait for a group in their area.

  • No. Survivors connect with Beyond Surviving through self-referral. They choose whether, when and how to reach in, guided by their own needs and pace. A professional can introduce our support to a survivor by sharing our information with them.

  • Beyond Surviving is not a frontline crisis service. If survivors need urgent help, contact the 24/7 National Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 77 88 88, for emergency services call 999 or 112, or contact the 24hr Domestic Abuse National Freephone Helpline on 1800 341 900.