ITV Believe me 

ITV Believe me

Beyond “Believe Me”: The Lasting Trauma of Sexual Violence and Systemic Betrayal.

Watching the ITV drama Believe Me is deeply uncomfortable—not because the story feels unrealistic, but because for so many survivors of sexual violence, coercive control, and abuse, it feels painfully familiar. The room full of victims waiting together is one of complete disbelief. 

The series exposes something society still struggles to confront: the trauma of sexual violence doesn’t end when the abuse stops. For many survivors, the long-term damage is compounded by a secondary trauma—the devastating experience of being treated as a suspect by the very systems designed to protect them.

The Anatomy of Long-Term Trauma: The "Perfect Victim" Myth

When a person experiences sexual violence, the psychological aftermath is rarely neat or linear. Trauma deeply alters the brain’s architecture, affecting how memories are processed and how emotions are regulated.

Yet, our institutions often demand that survivors live up to the impossible standards of a “perfect victim.” There is an unspoken expectation that a survivor must remain calm, consistent, articulate, and emotionally controlled while recounting the most horrific experiences of their lives.

But trauma does not present neatly:

• Fragmented Memories: The brain’s survival response can cause memories to fragment, making chronological timelines difficult to recall.

• Fluctuating Emotions: A survivor might appear entirely detached, intensely angry, or deeply anxious.

• Delayed Disclosure: Minimizing what happened or waiting months—even years—to report is a standard survival mechanism, not a sign of falsehood.

When society dissects a survivor's behavior rather than the perpetrator's actions, the long-term psychological damage deepens. It breeds an environment of internalized shame and isolation, leaving survivors to carry the weight of their trauma entirely alone.

Institutional Betrayal: The Second Assault

For many survivors, reporting abuse is not the beginning of justice. It is the start of another grueling battle—one fought against skepticism, institutional failures, and systemic fear.

Too many people are still met with an interrogation instead of support, facing questions that rarely recognize the realities of trauma, coercion, manipulation, financial dependence, or survival:

• "Why didn’t you leave?"

• "Why didn’t you report sooner?"

• "Why did you go back?"

• "Are you sure?"

This cultural tendency to scrutinize victims more harshly than perpetrators leads to a distinct type of long-term harm known as institutional betrayal. It fractures a survivor's sense of safety in the world.When a survivor gathers the immense courage to speak out and is met with disbelief, the impact is devastating. One phrase we hear repeatedly from survivors sums up this profound systemic failure:

“The abuse was horrific. But the way I was treated afterwards nearly broke me.”

That should never happen. The structural retraumatization a survivor experiences within courtrooms, police stations, and safeguarding processes can take years longer to heal from than the initial abuse itself.

Progress

It is important to recognize that the specific events portrayed in Believe Me reflect attitudes and systemic failures more commonly seen in the early 2000s. Since then, significant progress has been made.

Across the UK, there are countless hard-working police officers, Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs), safeguarding professionals, advocates, prosecutors, and support workers who are deeply committed to:

• Believing survivors from the outset.

• Improving the integrity of investigations.

• Delivering trauma-informed responses.

Many survivors today do encounter dedicated professionals who listen, care, and fight tirelessly for justice. This progress matters immensely and must be acknowledged..

Redefining Justice: Our Commitment at Justice Is Now

At Justice Is Now, we exist because survivors deserve better than a system that forces them to fight for their basic dignity. No one should walk into a police station, courtroom, safeguarding process, or disclosure meeting feeling alone, dismissed, or blamed.

We operate on a set of core principles designed to challenge harmful narratives and push for systems that are compassionate, survivor-centered, and accountable:

• Survivors deserve dignity – First, foremost, and unconditionally.

• Trauma-informed practice should not be optional – It is a fundamental necessity for accurate investigations and human decency.

• Court experiences matter – The process of seeking justice should not become a secondary source of trauma.

• Institutional accountability matters – Systems must learn from their failures to prevent future harm.

• Victim-blaming must end – The scrutiny belongs firmly on the perpetrator, never the survivor.

• Listening to survivors changes systems – True progress is built on lived experience.

• In cases involving serial offenders, the scale of harm is almost impossible to comprehend. The victims connected to Worboys were estimated to number around 90 women. The suggestion that someone responsible for such widespread and devastating abuse could ever be released on parole was deeply distressing and insulting to survivors, the police officers who worked tirelessly on the case, and everyone who believes in meaningful justice and public protection. Cases like this raise important questions about how the justice system measures harm, risk, accountability, and the lasting impact of sexual violence. Survivors need to know that their suffering is understood not as a temporary event, but as something that can shape an entire lifetime.

Dramas like Believe Me are painful to watch, but their most powerful attribute is that they spark these difficult, vital conversations. They remind us that every professional who chooses compassion over judgment matters. Every survivor who is believed matters. Every system that learns and improves matters.

True justice should never depend on how "credible" or "perfect" someone appears after experiencing a devastating trauma. It must begin, always, with humanity.

Author: Leonie Hodge – Co-Founder/Director Justiceisnow

19th May 2026