CAAGe forms Professional Partnership with Expert Counselling Start Up, Wobble, After Research Reveals Traumatic Effects of Adult Grooming on Victims
London – 1 February 2025-- When almost 400 people relay their experiences of having been groomed as adults, and well over 90% of respondents feel that their mental health has suffered greatly as a consequence, it’s time to pay attention.
Less than 1% of people who have been groomed respondents feel their mental health was unaffected as a consequence. CAAGe has collated and released the research results to October 2025.
Adult grooming, with all of its consequences, must be taken seriously.
CAAGe, the Campaign Against Adult Grooming, is a volunteer organisation seeking to raise awareness of adult grooming and offer support to victims. It has been researching for several years and the patterns that were revealed echo strongly what the helpline hears.
The Damage Caused by Adult Grooming
Grooming leaves a trail of issues in its wake, including depression, PTSD/CPTSD, and anxiety. Other consequences include lost homes, lost children, lost jobs and long term relationship and trust issues.
CAAGe x Wobble is here to help
CAAGe, which is currently working toward charity status, has taken steps to increase its counselling capacity with the help Wobble, a smart start up that ensures people can easily contact the right counsellor for them, knowing that Wobble has taken steps to ensure their professionalism.
On the basis of the research results, Wobble has hand selected the counsellors most likely to be a good fit for people who have been targeted as adults by groomers. All belong to professional organisations and are trauma informed.
Claire Thompson, Lead Campaigner at CAAGe , said: “We were struggling to find the right counsellors to come on board, and to stay on top of qualifications, disqualifications etc. Wobble’s team do this for a living. They’re professionals. We have been able to leapfrog from just a few nominated counsellors to a far wider choice. There will always be a need to find the appropriate chemistry with your counsellor, but this shortens the odds drastically.”
Jack Murphy, founder of Wobble, said: “For CAAGe, we identified at least 49 counsellors from our ‘pool’ of 97 who are trauma informed, as well as relationship counsellors and specialists in particular areas. I am confident that we can continue to grow this offering as both counsellors and users start seeing the benefits of knowing that the person you are seeing is properly qualified, monitored by their professional body and checked out by us.”
He added: “It’s too easy to call yourself a counsellor with very few qualifications. The last thing anyone who has been groomed needs is the further trauma of an unsuitably qualified counsellor.”
The future
The partnership is simply the first stage. CAAGe is undertaking fundraising to achieve charity status, money which it hopes will, in part, be able to subsidise some counselling, and it is developing an accredited course to help counsellors become ‘grooming aware’.
At least 15.5% of our research respondents described losing out financially as one of the worst consequences of their grooming. That makes help harder to obtain.
Fundraising to be able to subsidise counselling is an essential next stage for CAAGe and its service users. The NHS counselling is invaluable, but waiting lists as long as seven years for NHS mental health treatment (highlighted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the Scotsman last year). Whilst that’s at the extreme, and most have at least a referral call within six weeks, many victims of grooming can face long waits for NHS treatments. Types of therapy are limited and not all counsellors yet understand grooming.
Notes to editors
CAAGe, the Campaign Against Adult Grooming (https://caage.org), was founded in 2019 to research and raise awareness of adult grooming and to offer support to those affected. It is a volunteer organisation working toward charity status.
Wobble is a UK-based counselling platform that connects people to verified, professionally registered therapists for online and in-person sessions. Wobble focuses on removing friction, improving therapist fit, and safeguarding quality, particularly for people seeking specialist or trauma-informed support. Wobble is also developing an on-demand mental support model, designed to provide rapid, personalised support from qualified therapists for people struggling but not in crisis.
The research: Research was conducted with 397 people who self-identified as having been groomed as adults, anonymously. Questions were optional to respond to. The information was kept on a Google sheet and collated manually where required. CAAGe has not used AI to simplify this procedure due to privacy and trust issues.
Spokespeople are available from both organisations.
A copy of the research report, Adult Grooming and Mental Health, can be downloaded here: https://www.caage.org/s/Adult-Grooming-and-Mental-Health-advance-copy-asgs.pdf
A copy can also be emailed on request (contact details below)
