{"id":6731,"date":"2025-05-01T17:20:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T16:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/?p=6731"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:30:10","slug":"working-closely-with-minoritised-communities-around-their-sexual-health-and-on-marginalisation-through-sexual-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/working-closely-with-minoritised-communities-around-their-sexual-health-and-on-marginalisation-through-sexual-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Working closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cThe work I do is applied real world change, in sexual health and sexual violence. We work with \u2013 and for \u2013 groups whose voices are seldom heard.\u201d\u202f<\/em>\u202f <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dr Jane Meyrick<\/a>, Associate Professor in Health Psychology<\/em>\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I work closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence.  Recent BMA award winning work has been with young survivors of sexual violence.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborating with local partners, the Greenhouse and the Bridge SARC via Bristol Health Partners Sexual Health Improvement Health Integration Team (SHIP HIT), we set out to put survivors of child sexual abuse in charge of improving sexual health services for survivors like them in the city.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their voice, their path<\/strong>\u202f <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We supported young survivors to redesign the way that their treatment worked. We paid attention to power dynamics to ensure real co-production. We produced a new patient pathway guided by a kind of a passport or map to help children, young people and their carers find their way through the service, through the journey.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The map showed them all their options and put them in charge of decisions about where they could go and what it was like. We used bitesize videos to show them what they could expect, what the sexual health clinic looks like, who you\u2019ll be meeting, here\u2019s the room, here\u2019s the process. For all of us involved, it was \u2013 always is \u2013 about finding the options that they like, what\u2019s going to work for these young survivors.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More power to the individual\u202f<\/strong>\u202f <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the design process, we used safe, trauma informed art based methods to uncover what survivors needed from a service. The young survivors designed different characters and imagined what each would need.   At the end, we also asked them to tell us how to evaluate the work, if it was for them, what do they think success looks like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s about giving power to these unheard voices and in the case of trauma survivors, the process needs to be restorative, giving them back voice and options. And I guess that\u2019s the thread in my work. I\u2019m passionate about listening to people to find out what they need \u2013 not what we assume or think they need. That\u2019s so important.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is true across a range of groups I work with, there\u2019s never one answer. I have other research students working with minoritised groups including black men in London telling us what they need from sexual health services, sexual violence survivors telling us what stops them using healthcare and what support male sex workers need.  We are looking for funding to\u202fbuild a digital community around their sexual needs.\u202f\u202f The latest project I am working on is to get refugee and asylum seekers better served by sexual health and gender-based violence services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trusted to make a real difference\u202f<\/strong>\u202f <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I love what I do. I really love listening to people’s stories \u2013 and helping to tell them, to share them. It\u2019s an honour in many ways. But there\u2019s real responsibility too. I work with groups that have often suffered trauma. And so it\u2019s incredibly important that these survivors can see that their stories making real world change. I recently handed over \u00a32000 in BMA prize money to the young survivors at Greenhouse who co-produced the patient pathway and they will decide how to spend it. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because that’s what it\u2019s all about. What we do has<\/em> to make a change. It has to result in improvements.  So yes, I tell my students that we\u2019re here to change the world. Not just here to find out about it, but to make it better.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals<\/a>. The above research aligns with the following goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe work I do is applied real world change, in sexual health and sexual violence. We work with \u2013 and for \u2013 groups whose voices are seldom heard.\u201d\u202f\u202f  Dr Jane Meyrick, Associate Professor in Health Psychology\u202f  I work closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence.  Recent BMA award … Continue reading “Working closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":6779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":127,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,4],"tags":[564,62,565,1431,74,75,226],"class_list":["post-6731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-business-innovation","category-uwe-bristol-research","tag-dr-jane-meyrick","tag-research","tag-sexual-health","tag-sexual-violence","tag-uwe","tag-uwe-bristol","tag-uwe-bristol-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8397,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions\/8397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}