"It was the saddest story, but Izzy told it with courage.”
"It was the saddest story, but Izzy told it with courage.”
Our History
MAIRSINN was established in 2002 and was founded by survivors. It was formerly known as RANS and as Izzy's Promise.
The original name came from a particularly special individual who was incredibly motivated to make support available to survivors of sexual abuse. Those that knew Izzy were instrumental to the setting up of Izzy's Promise - RANS - MAIRSINN
The original name came from a particularly special individual who was incredibly motivated to make support available to survivors of sexual abuse. Those that knew Izzy were instrumental to the setting up of Izzy's Promise - RANS - MAIRSINN
Click here to read more about Izzy
Izzy was a survivor of ritual abuse (though she did not have a name for it). In 1989 Izzy shared her painful life story with a rape crisis volunteer. She had never been able to tell before. From childhood her whole life had been abuse, torture and suffering without respite, help, therapy or happiness. She had been sexually exploitated and trafficked and had never escaped abuse though she had tried. She had no family, friends or home. Her health issues including PTSD and DID were directly caused by abuse. It was the saddest story but Izzy told it with courage and dignity and without bitterness though it was physically painful for her to talk. Izzy needed oxygen to breathe and talking was difficult not to mention the emotional and mental struggle she had to get each word out. A few weeks later, Izzy called the rape crisis volunteer has she was very ill and close to death. Despite being exhausted and weak she shared more her life. Then she gripped the hand of the volunteer and asking for a promise. It was a scary moment but important to Izzy. The promise she asked was for the volunteer to do something to help abused children so that no child ever suffered the way she had. The promise was made. Izzy died a few days later alone with no one to mourn her.
What an amazing human being. There she was dying, alone, in poverty, having experienced no joy ever in her life but she was not thinking of herself but of others. Thinking about future children who might be abused and wanting to do something about it.
Within a few years of making that promise the volunteer had set up several survivors’ charities. Eighteen And Under www.18u.org.uk ; the Violence Is Preventable programme was developed www.violenceispreventable.org.uk The Gap a support service for male survivors of child sexual abuse and in 2002 this charity for ritual abuse survivors.
What an amazing human being. There she was dying, alone, in poverty, having experienced no joy ever in her life but she was not thinking of herself but of others. Thinking about future children who might be abused and wanting to do something about it.
Within a few years of making that promise the volunteer had set up several survivors’ charities. Eighteen And Under www.18u.org.uk ; the Violence Is Preventable programme was developed www.violenceispreventable.org.uk The Gap a support service for male survivors of child sexual abuse and in 2002 this charity for ritual abuse survivors.
Since being founded MAIRSINN has worked with hundreds of people from around the world and each individual's story and strength has contributed to our ability to support survivors and raise awareness
Read on to learn more about our history or find out how to contact us here
Read on to learn more about our history or find out how to contact us here
A Long Journey
The earliest idea for our charity began in another service - Eighteen And Under (18u), a charity providing confidential support for young abuse survivors that was founded in April 1994. Young survivors from all over the UK began contacting 18u for help and amongst them were many survivors or ritual, organised abuse and exploitation. As a result, 18u provided publications, trainings and awareness about ritual and organised abuse and, due to a dearth of information or discourse on the subject, word rapidly spread to adult survivors and agency workers who also began to call the 18u helpline. As the helpline and resources were strictly for under 18’s, survivor volunteers who staffed the helpline came up with a solution. In October 2002 the survivors founded a charity called Tayside Ritual Abuse Support and Helpline (T.R.A.S.H) opened a helpline and were soon deluged with requests for support, information and help for ritual abuse survivors, their families, friends and professionals
In 2008 TRASH changed its name to Izzy’s Promise and at the same time changed its legal status to become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). In 2020 Izzy’s Promise again changed its name to become the Ritual Abuse Network Scotland
In 2024, after extensive consultation and deep consideration, there was another name change to better reflect the services we provide. This came about after a national charity called First Person Plural (FPP) closed in 2023 and RANS received their Dissolution Legacy Fund to extend services to people affected by trauma-related complex dissociation including DID
In 2008 TRASH changed its name to Izzy’s Promise and at the same time changed its legal status to become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). In 2020 Izzy’s Promise again changed its name to become the Ritual Abuse Network Scotland
In 2024, after extensive consultation and deep consideration, there was another name change to better reflect the services we provide. This came about after a national charity called First Person Plural (FPP) closed in 2023 and RANS received their Dissolution Legacy Fund to extend services to people affected by trauma-related complex dissociation including DID
Click here to read more about first person plural
First Person Plural (FPP) was a long-established service providing support and information to people affected by dissociative conditions caused by early years complex trauma including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and other such conditions. It also provided training and awareness about dissociative conditions. RANS received funding from the closure of FPP to expand its service to provide for people with DID and other complex dissociative conditions caused by early years trauma. Since Ritual Abuse (RA) survivors often suffer from DID and dissociative conditions, RANS already had many years of experience therefore expanding the service was not difficult
First person Plural (FPP) was established in 1997 and was dissolved in 2023. It was a membership organisation which provided information, training for agencies, newsletters, and facilitated peer support for its members. It also ran an online support forum for its members and was an extremely active organisation in raising the awareness and profile of dissociative condition in the UK and further afield. Training was a key activity of FPP with trainers who were professional, knowledgeable and experienced, with the added value of having lived experience of dissociative identity disorder
You can visit the legacy website of First Person Plural by clicking here
First person Plural (FPP) was established in 1997 and was dissolved in 2023. It was a membership organisation which provided information, training for agencies, newsletters, and facilitated peer support for its members. It also ran an online support forum for its members and was an extremely active organisation in raising the awareness and profile of dissociative condition in the UK and further afield. Training was a key activity of FPP with trainers who were professional, knowledgeable and experienced, with the added value of having lived experience of dissociative identity disorder
You can visit the legacy website of First Person Plural by clicking here