It was the heartbreaking secret that Siobhan Pyburn was too terrified to breathe a word of as a child.

After being sexually abused by her father for years, the Southampton schoolgirl finally confided in her mother when she was 15.

Her testimony ultimately resulted in her dad being sent to prison for three years for indecent assault in 2007 – and Siobhan began the slow process of rebuilding her shattered life.

“Throughout my childhood, I felt I was leading a double life, says the 26-year-old.

“I was so sure I could never tell anyone about the abuse. After the sentencing, I wanted to start over and rebuild my self-confidence.”

Lonely and unhappy as a student at the city’s Richard Taunton Sixth Form College at the time, she found it hard to make friends. Her devastating experiences, she believed, left little room to find anything in common with others her age.

So when she attended a talk at college about Fixers – the Winchester-based charity that gives young people a voice – Siobhan says she finally found something she could connect with.

Then aged 17, it was a huge turning point in her life.

Siobhan seized the opportunity to work with the charity, which offers 16 to 25-year-olds across the UK the chance to launch a campaign to highlight any issue that matters to them.

Signing up as a ‘Fixer’, she was keen to share her story to help other victims of child sexual abuse appreciate that they too, could speak out and seek support.

“It was the first time I realised that people might be interested in what I had to say and that no one was judging me in the way I feared they might,” says Siobhan.

While the law affords victims of sexual abuse anonymity, Siobhan was adamant she wanted to go public.

“It’s difficult to convince others that they have nothing to be ashamed of, if you yourself are covered and unknown,” she explains.

“I was very firm that that speaking out was the right thing to do from the moment I got involved with Fixers. That really was where it all started for me.”

Working with the charity, Siobhan reached a huge audience by sharing her story with media outlets including the Daily Echo, Cosmopolitan and ITV.

“The response was phenomenal and so positive, and showed me how valuable spoken testimony is to those who are still suffering,” she says.

“My campaign gave me such a big platform and I felt so empowered that it inspired me to want to continue.”

It was the start of what Siobhan now believes will be a lifetime project – as she has continued to speak out on behalf of child sexual abuse victims ever since.

Fast forward to today and she has become one of the country’s leading campaigners in the field.

She has won national awards for her work, addressed many major conferences, and trains health, education and police chiefs, among others, on child protection issues through a series of workshops and other events.

“The fact these bodies are willing to pay someone to talk about their experience of child sexual abuse and how things can be improved, shows that the subject is becoming less taboo and is more of a widespread problem than many people might have imagined.”

Siobhan now runs a social enterprise called Beam Project, to raise awareness and train professionals on the issue.

“I feel very resolved about my own experiences, but I grew up thinking it was all my fault,” says the law graduate.

“I was lucky to have been believed and supported by wider society, but there are still many, many children who feel silenced by shame. I’m here to change that.

“I want to ensure that no child today feels like they can’t tell anyone if they’re being abused at home, or anywhere else. For this, we need a deeper understanding of the reasons why children find it so tremendously difficult to speak out, and how we might support them.”

Recently chosen to attend the prestigious annual ‘Women of the Year Lunch’, which honours the country’s most outstanding women, Siobhan – who also runs a YouTube channel focusing on specific aspects of abuse – is determined to continue to push the boundaries.

“I haven’t heard others speaking about sexual abuse in the same way that I am,” she says. “We need a movement of different voices to help society to change the way abuse is dealt with. I’m giving lessons that practitioners can learn from, and providing solutions and ideas to try and make things better.”

While official statistics state that around one in 20 children have been sexually abused, it is widely acknowledged that the true figures are much higher as many crimes go unreported.

From her experience, Siobhan estimates a more realistic figure to be more like one in five or six.

‘When I speak to a room full of 100 people there’s normally someone who will come up to me afterwards and say, ‘it happened to me’ or ‘on a personal level, keep up the good work’.

For Siobhan, her focus for the future will continue to be encouraging people – whether they be a teacher, GP or social worker for example, to ask those difficult questions if they are concerned about a child.

She is also a strong advocate for the introduction of mandatory reporting of known or suspected child abuse to be made law in the UK.

It would mean that people who work with children have a legal duty to report any such knowledge to a local authority.

One thing remains clear, Siobhan, who is also training to be a life coach, will continue to do everything within her power to keep helping young victims of sexual abuse.

“My message to them is always the same,” she says. “It’s not your fault. Tell someone. Speak out. You deserve to seek support and help.”

Crediting the charity with changing her life, Siobhan still works closely with Fixers.

Established in 2008, the charity worked with over 22,000 young people to-date, but Siobhan – who was one of the very first ‘Fixers’ – remains one of their most high-profile alumni.

With Fixers working with young people on any subject they choose – everything from transgender rights to conservation issues have been covered – a number of projects have focused on child sexual abuse since Siobhan first highlighted the subject almost a decade ago.

So it was fitting for Siobhan to chair a recent event held by Fixers which gathered together a number of young people who have worked with the charity on the subject.

Sharing their devastating experiences and recommendations for change, the event gave 17 young people the chance to speak directly to key decision-makers and professionals working in the field.

Together they devised a set of proposals setting out what they believe needs to be done to make childhood safer and society more responsive for future generations.

To find out more about Fixers, or to make a donation, visit www.fixers.org.uk