Counselling service reports 39% surge in calls

A COUNSELLING service for survivors of sexual abuse is reporting a surge in calls which it links directly to the publication of the Ryan report earlier this year.

Connect, a national telephone-based counselling service for abuse victims, said it has seen a 39% increase in calls to the service this year, and that 67% of those calls reported being abused over a period of time as a child.

Connect received 6,288 calls from January to September 2009 compared with 4,505 calls during the same period in 2008.