Tackling the Impact of Child Abuse on the Frontline: A Community Perspective

‘One major thing I learned that first day I met Mike is the alarming economics of child abuse and neglect: costs in human terms are inestimable.

He argues the vindictive and ongoing cruelty of childhood abuse and trauma lay at the core of so many of societal problems: crime/drug rates, re-offending, homelessness, self-harming and sadly too often, suicide.

Mike demonstrates how abuse, the most intimate and secretive of crimes, is unending, repeating through generations as described in the book as the Cycle of Harm and having a massive impact on a macro level.

His work, and that of the charity he founded in 1994 has been debated and praised in parliament - not just about untold thousands of damaged hearts and broken lives abuse brings, but the billions of pounds it costs the state and taxpayer every year.’

Christopher Harper

‘Mike founded and grew this organisation, openly sharing his own personal story as a survivor of adverse childhood experiences. Whilst he has now retired from his role at the Southmead Project, it remains his legacy. My hope is that other people around the country will use Mike’s knowledge and experience, which he has shared in this book, as a blueprint to replicate the Southmead Project in other communities across the country.’

Darren Jones MP, Bristol North-West

‘When I first visited the project in 1996 it was housed in a run-down building in an old yard, where other parts of the yard buildings were being used as a drug den. In the centre of the yard was a pile of corrugated iron which I discovered was the home of a drug user who slept there with an axe at his side.’

Professor Kim Etherington