Our History

Safeline was founded in 1994 by Diane (Di) Shoreman, a social worker from Warwickshire.

Di supported people with mental health issues and discovered many of her clients had been sexually abused as children. She recognised there was a lack of specialist support and she quit her job to do something about it.

She brought together a group of survivors to share their experiences, part of their healing, involved writing poems and with the aid of a grant, she managed to publish a book of their poetry called ‘The Silent Scream’. The profits from the sale helped establish Safeline.

Initially providing a restricted helpline, Safeline is now one of the largest specialist support agencies in England and Wales.

Di Shoreman’s passion and values continues to influence everything Safeline does today; we remain led by the needs of our clients, we are inclusive, independent, professional and our services are free and long term.