Hope has been in short supply for Leanne Lucas ever since she was caught up in the horrific Southport stabbings at her dance class. But the yoga teacher, badly injured in the attack in which three little girls were murdered, says she has found some after meeting the only people who can truly understand how she feels. Eight girls who survived the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing are turning their trauma into a force for good by mentoring the teachers of Southport victims.
Speaking about the initiative, Leanne, 37, says: “Seeing where the Manchester girls are eight years on gives me a great sense of hope. A survivor’s support network is an important part of healing and we must foster this for those who have experienced something traumatic.” Teacher Natasha Sandland, who lost one of her pupils in the Southport stabbings, added: “We didn’t have an instruction manual on how to deal with something like this. The Manchester survivors have lived it, so having that insight is invaluable.”
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed more than 22 people and injured more than 1,000 – many of them children at a show by US singer Ariana Grande. Many of the youngsters who were caught up in the horror say their teachers were not equipped to support them, so the aim of the sessions is to ensure children in Southport never go through the same thing. Teenage knifeman Axel Rudakubana murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injured 10 others in his attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024.
The initiative – a collaboration between the National Emergencies Trust and Lancaster University – involves Manchester survivors running support workshops for teachers in Sefton. Two workshops have already taken place, with the second bringing some 40 teachers together. Manchester survivors led a Q & A session before breaking out into smaller groups to share advice. A struggle they all shared was a lack of information passed on to teachers, and the trauma of having to frequently retell their stories.
Ruby Bradbourne, 20, who was just 11 when she attended the Ariana concert, says: “I had counselling at school, but I would have to get up in the middle of class, and because there was nothing in place I had to tell every teacher where I was going. It was really triggering because I had to explain everything each time. They didn’t know how to react because nothing like this had ever happened before.” They also spoke of the need for teachers to keep a closer eye on quieter children. Alicia Taylor, 22, was 13 when the attack happened. She was not injured, but her mum suffered tinnitus and deafness in one ear. “I was seeing my mum going through PTSD and I really needed people at my school to see me and notice that I was going through something traumatic, even though I didn’t have anything physical to show for it,” she says.
Last night, Manchester survivor Dr Cath Hill, who is spearheading the scheme, said: “The project was born out of people not wanting others to go through what they’ve gone through. Schools are left on the front line after these horrendous events and yet they’re not given the tools to navigate such a complex situation. What we’re trying to do is offer that hope using the power of lived experience. As teachers and parents, it’s really easy to think these young people will never be OK – but the Manchester survivors prove that’s not the case. It hasn’t been easy, but they’ve shown life goes on and there’s more resilience in these children than we sometimes give them credit for.”
