Beyond Therapy Festival of Activism 2025

About this event

Beyond Therapy Festival of Activism is hosted by The Green House, as part of Upfront Survivors.

We set up the festival to challenge attitudes toward child sexual abuse and re-imagine our society’s existing response, by combining research, arts and activism.

We invite you to join us on Tuesday 18th March to participate in our community of strong and emerging voices. We believe we can use our collective power to initiate change.

The festival will be held at Watershed, Bristol for up to approximately 300 people and will include:

📢 Panel discussions

🤝 Practice based workshops

📝 Contributions from young survivors of child sexual abuse and their families

We are planning this day to be a positive, creative, and joyful space focussed on the needs of young people and families – the Festival of Activism is an inclusive community-based response to child sexual abuse.

2024 Theme: Mental Health

Each year the festival highlights an area chosen by young people and families with lived experience. This year’s theme is mental health.

One of the greatest challenges of learning to live life alongside experiences of sexual abuse is managing the mental health impacts. Every day, young victims and survivors navigate trauma symptoms like anxiety, depression, and PTSD – all too often on their own.

Our 2025 Beyond Therapy Festival will explore what healing means. Join us, as we bring together young survivor voices with the latest research, best practice and creative responses, so that we can consider together what effective community support for mental health looks like.

Key Event Information

We will be operating a wristband system to ensure only festival staff, volunteers, attendees and contributors have access to the festival only spaces.

This event will address sensitive and difficult subjects and include explicit language. Please use your discretion if attending with people under the age of 18.

This event will be relaxed with gentler volumes and house lights on. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you would like. If you need to leave a room at any point, you will be able to return to the space when you feel ready. We will have listening support available throughout the day, based in our wellbeing space. Here you can also find quiet and grounding activities.

Watershed access https://www.watershed.co.uk/visit/access

https://www.watershed.co.uk/visit

There is no parking at the venue, but if you are planning on driving to a nearby car park, it is worth noting the low emission zone around Bristol City centre Bristol's Clean Air Zone charges and vehicle checker

Registration will open at 09:00, with the welcome session starting promptly at 10:00.

Please note that 9:45-10:00 is usually the busiest arrival time, so if you have access needs or could find this overwhelming, it is worth trying to arrive earlier if possible. We welcome all attendees to arrive in good time in order to be registered and seated before the first session starts, so that we are able to run the rest of the day according to the schedule.

Arrivals for afternoon only ticket holders will start from 12.30pm.

Ticket Information

The ticket price is set at £7.00 per person for access to the full day, and £5.00 for afternoon only tickets. However we want to make sure that this event is as accessible as possible. If you have difficulty covering the ticket price, please get in touch via

We have a limited provision of free tickets available for those who would find the cost a barrier in attending.

Filming Information

Brief moments of the festival will be filmed throughout the day in order to make a short film about the event. There are certain sessions that will not be documented, however for the ones that are, it is extremely important to us that attendees feel comfortable with the presence of a camera in some of the shared spaces. If you have a question, or would prefer not to be filmed at any point, please don't hesitate to approach the videographer, a member of staff or a session leader. We also run a colour coded wristband system to identify anyone who does not want to be approached or recorded. Wristbands will be provided on entry to the event based on your preference.
Everything that is captured will be vetted carefully by the festival producer to ensure that those that have not consented to being filmed are not used in the final product- your words and likenesses are your own, and we will only use footage with clear consent.

Host or Publisher The Green House Bristol