‘Inside, I feel like I’m a dead person’ - Inara's story

For survivors like Inara, every day is filled with the horrors of their pasts. And Christmas can be the hardest time of all.

Inara was absolutely traumatised by the torture she’d endured in her home country. She was detained and tormented for days before escaping. After going through all this, she couldn’t cope. Not without help.

Inara had to flee her home in South Asia. She said, “In my country, there’s so much killing – people indifferent groups are killing each other.” A family member had gone missing. “They are dead. I don’know what happened to them. We believe they are dead.” 

She didn’t feel safe and fled to another country. But when she heard about a family emergency, she rushed back, even though she knew it was dangerous. She couldn’t bear to lose another member of her family. Devastatingly, that’s when Inara was taken.

It all happened suddenly. I didn’t think it would happen to me.

Inara was imprisoned and tortured for several days. Against all odds she managed to escape. She fled the country, terrified for her life, and ended up here in the UK.

Despite being hundreds of miles from her torturer in the UK, Inara still saw his face in flashbacks and nightmares. His voice haunted her waking hours. She was too afraid to go outside, and she told her therapist, “I didn’t want to go out. Going out in the dark, I was scared, and when I saw a man, a man with a big body, I was scared. I used to stay at home all the time.”

Inside I feel like I’m not living anymore. Like I’m a dead person.

When Inara found out she was pregnant, her joy was overshadowed by pain and trauma. Although she had met a loving partner, she was far away from her parents and still dealing with loss and grief. She felt incredibly alone, it was hard to imagine raising her child without the support of her family. 

She was traumatised and couldn’t trust people she met, but she knew she had to find a support network, a way to feel safer and get through each day, for her child.

Inara tried talking therapy but nothing worked. Until she found our specialised trauma therapy.

When Inara first came to therapy, she was unsure it would work. But thanks to generous donations, her therapist, Emine, helped her begin a journey to recovery. 

Survivors like Inara urgently need specialist therapy so they can begin to rebuild their lives, one day at a time. Will you help with a Christmas gift.