Exposure of abuse gives courage to other victims

THE exposure of clerical abuse in the Catholic Church has given victims of sexual violence in the home the strength to speak out, activists said yesterday.

Six out of 10 men and women attending the One in Four charity were assaulted as a child by a trusted family member or neighbour.

The organisation was founded to respond to the devastating affects of abuse suffered in institutions, churches or schools.

But Maeve Lewis, executive director of the support group, said more than 60% of clients are people who were abused by a trusted adult or teacher, while numbers reporting institutional abuse have dropped.

“It is very difficult for people to talk about abuse in their families, but I think the huge exposure of clerical abuse in some way has made it less shameful for other victims to come forward,” said Ms Lewis.

“Sexual abuse in childhood requires quite a long time in psychotherapy, anything between two to four years, before they were ready to leave.”

Last year, One in Four delivered almost 6,000 hours of counselling, had 130 people in counselling and supported a further 500 women and men through its advocacy programme.

It currently has 155 people in psychotherapy and has another 80 victims on a nine-month waiting list.

“We find a lot of the people come to us because they were abused in an institution,” continued Ms Lewis.

“But when we begin to explore the totality of their childhood we find the reason they ended up in one of those institutions is because they were in very difficult circumstances at home.

“Some were put there through poverty or when a parent died.

“Occasionally, there will be situations where a child was abused or sexually abused in the home and then ended up in the institution where the abuse carried on.”

Research has revealed that more than one in four children (27%) will experience sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Unlike other support groups, One in Four runs a programme for convicted paedophiles and men struggling with thoughts before they even come to attention of gardaí.

It also works with families affected by abuse, including the victim, perpetrator, the other parents and siblings.

“We can work with the entire family here to try and build bridges and, if that’s not possible, at least to help the family try and understand what happened and make sure other children are protected and safe,” Ms Lewis said.