“He comes to my bedroom each night to help me with my homework but that’s just an excuse. He closes the door behind me and rapes me. He has been doing this since I was 8.”

Fourteen-year-old Amina contacted the Mental Health Speak UP Speak OUT Facebook page after being repeatedly sexually abused by her father.

Speak UP Speak OUT was developed following a piece of research by Manchester University and John Moores University in which the study looked at mental issues in the South Asian Communities.

The results highlighted a greater need for awareness and openness to talk about issues affecting this community and have a platform in which people could share their personal stories and access information.

The development of Speak Up Speak Out has resulted in a high percentage of people putting forward complex and frightening experiences which otherwise are not shared.

It allows people to share and inform people that these issues do exist and there is support and help out there.

Amina wrote,“It took a while for me to actually make contact with Speak UP Speak OUT because I was scared. I still am but I need help. I cannot cope with this anymore.

“He comes to my bedroom each night. To help me with my homework and Islamic lessons but that’s just an excuse. He closes the door behind me and rapes me. He has been doing this since I was 8.”

“I am now 14 and still being raped by my father. Nobody knows at home, not even a friend. He threatens he will kill me or take me to Pakistan and leave me there.

“I am so scared. Not for myself but for my younger sister. He is threatening to rape her too which I cannot deal with. I don’t want her to go through what I have and am doing.

“My father hurts me so bad that sometimes I bleed for days from my vagina. I became pregnant once and he gave me something to eat which aborted the baby.”

She had reported that she wanted to tell her mum so many times but she thought no-one would believe her.

“We have a large family here and my father is well respected in the family. People look up to him and I know if I said anything I would be portrayed as a liar.”

Amina admitted that after contacting Speak UP Speak Out, she was informed that she could report her father to the police and have him prosecuted, and that several support networks were available to help her.

She was afraid to take the next step. “I found it too hard to report him. Why am I letting him do this to me again and again?

“Shall I be totally honest with you? I have kind of become used to it.

“I am numb each time he rapes me.

“It’s like it’s not me. I have no feelings. He uses my body but I don’t feel like I am in my body anymore. I have lost all sensation, all feeling.

“His hands touch me, he penetrates me, his smell is left all over my body.

“I wash and it’s like nothing has happened.

“I would have carried on letting him rape me, but since he said he will do the same to my younger sister I know I can’t let it happen.

“But if I tell anyone, my biggest fear is no one will believe me.”

Jawad Ahmed from Speak UP Speak OUT said, “Speak UP Speak OUT is a space for people to share, discuss and look at ways to address hidden issues and tackle a history of stigma and taboo. For some it is a lifeline and the first step to recovery.

“Following Amina's sharing her experience we worked with her and since then she has reported her father and she is now in a safe place with support from several local agencies.

“We strive to actively work with these agencies by delivering training on culture and religious stigma and discrimination.

“It will be long and lengthy road to recovery for her, as you can understand highlighting such issues is never easy especially when you are from a south Asian family.

“However she built the courage to stand up to the abuse and understand how wrong it was. She is on her way to rebuilding her life and is happy she could share her story with us and subsequently seek help.”