Funding FemFound

We are Meg and Millie and together we are the FemFound-ers.

Both being survivors of rape we see a serious need for a service that improves the resources and support currently available by offering;  creative group therapys, a crisis textline and a user friendly dynamic website that will serve as an information hub not only to survivors but to their friends, family and the general public.

Rape Happens - Lets do something about it!

   However, as an Artist and student/Cafe Manager on minimum wage, we desperately need your help in funding FemFound.

Let us introduce you to the bones of FemFound -

Vision: Her Right - A world without rape and an empowered community of rape survivors.

Mission: Her Journey -  Improving the resources and support available for sexual assault and rape survivors. Femfound strives to achieve its vision through offering creative support groups, safe and trusted communication channels, increasing public awareness and fostering a more positively geared dialogue. 

About: A safe place for conversation, creation & education

When survivors are out on their own, trying to understand what support systems are available to them, the process can be lonely and terrifying. Within the current system her options are limited as the only services available to her are clinical and alienating.

We need to remove the isolation survivors feel from their society, communities and families that at present is continuing the negative stigma and misconception of rape and rape recovery. FemFound aims to do this by creating a conversation within our social frameworks so that the language used and the context in which rape is viewed shifts from a negative ‘victim’ focus to a positive ‘survivor’ focus. 

Society and the communities we are a part of simply don’t know how to talk about rape and sexual assault. Lacking the proper language, knowledge, resources and understanding, a positive focused recovery and reclamation for these survivors is not possible as the structures currently in place propagate a negative context.

Due to this, those affected fall into further exclusion from the world they are part of, such isolation is detrimental to their healing and overall recovery. This by definition is known as ‘second victimisation’, which can be just as traumatic as the initial event itself.

FemFound hopes to create personal and supportive relationships to build a community of individuals equipped with the resources that empowers them to start a conversation for their own benefit or for the benefit of another. This conversation will create a safer community and basis for those wanting to speak out against these issues or come forward with an experience of their own.

Our Story

Meet Meg.

Meg started on her journey after rape in early 2013, when in Mexico she was drugged and sexually assaulted. She luckily escaped, and on her return to Australia, was not only shocked at the lack of organised support initiatives but also quickly became incredibly isolated after she discovered there were no available support groups with other survivors, no safe place that seemed comfortable for conversations or questions and no shared stories of hope or triumph to shine light on such a dark event. Her only accessible ‘resource’ was the clinical room of a psychologist, which unfortunately  became detrimental to her progress as finding the right one proved to be a painful, difficult and expensive process. A worry she thought, for any survivor who did not have the loving support and positive vibes from family and friends. So as a response to the lack of recovery resources, Meg did what she knew best – and began doing a drawing a day. 

Using the platform of social media to exhibit these works, Meg began her journey into exploring the thoughts and emotions that we succumb to after experiencing such a trauma. She used colours, lyrics, a red bearded man, patterns and landscapes to understand her new self, in ways, which her words could not express. 

https://www.facebook.com/adrawingadaymminkley/

At the end of the first year, Meg celebrated her saving grace, her drawings. She held a showing of ‘365 Days of A Drawing A Day’ with all her creations hung on a gallery wall. She took advantage of the wonderful soapbox-like platform of Pozible and told the story behind the creation of ‘A Drawing A Day’ publicly.

http://www.pozible.com/project/182764

Then began the glorious whirlwind of support from all over the world, with men, women, young and old, a conversation started. Meg received letters, emails and phone calls from over 400 other survivors from all across the globe. She was invited to be a guest speaker on her favourite radio program Conversations with Richard Fidler, interviewed by magazines, as well appearances on television programs such as The Feed on SBS. 

One event Meg was invited to speak at was FastBreak. Held at The Powerhouse Museum this event brings together change makers, and gives them a platform to collaborate and connect with experienced professionals from business, arts, media, technology, social justice and political backgrounds. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEPc8-I7FfA

It was here that Meg met Millie, one of the many faces that listened to her talk that day - another survivor. With her she shared her plans and it was here that the adventure of FemFound began!

Meet Amelia (Millie).

Amelia embarked on her journey after rape as a young teenager. Her journey was made in shame and isolation until she was 20 years old, when she finally broke her silence and told her family. Lucky for her she was surrounded by loving and supporting family members, something she is aware many are not as fortunate to possess.  

Amelia always had a strong determination to overcome her rape and not let her experience claim her as a victim. She drew strength from the words ‘wound to weapon’ something to remind her that she could reclaim her life and turn her rape into something that made her stronger. She never wanted to be defined by the stereotypical expectation of the ‘victim’ and instead endeavoured to reclaim her identity and be proud of her resilience and what she had fought to overcome.

Help us help other survivors everywhere!

Help give FemFound feet by donating to the development and launch of our website - www.femfound.com - 

Our website will be a resource station for survivors, an education portal for the wider community and most importantly a data collecting agency that will count and store the current and growing statistics of sexual assault numbers in Australia.

This data will provide us with a clear picture to take to government and other agencies when we are looking to gain support for awareness campaigns and implementing early intervention programs in schools. 

How the funds will be broken down:

The funds will be going directly towards the development and launch of the website, as well as getting the start up text line off the ground - quite a costly cause - and ongoing.

Any left over coins that we may be so lucky to receive will be used for the build up of the business with endeavours such as - a rented space for the first support groups, events and exhibitions / the production of official merchandise and advertising etc.

Without the appropriate funding, the following challenges will exist for FemFound -

The FemFound website will be unable to operate and therfore,  creative support groups, and a crisis text-line unavailable to survivors of rape. There will be no generation of current statistics of sexual assault crimes within Australia and no extension to early intervention and awareness within schools, our homes and our wider community.

The government costs involved when registering a chairty will not be met, therefore resulting in FemFound being unable to officially call itself a chairty. This will further inhibit fund raising through other avenues.

Without your help FemFound will not find her feet, ultimately meaning a great loss to the ongoing and growing number of survivors of sexual assault out there who need this for the reclamation of their lives.