This article is from page 2 of the 2007-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
has learned that the centre in Ennis offered 223 hours’ counselling to rape or sexual assault victims last year. This grew from 173 hours during the previous year.
Rape Crisis Midwest, which caters for victims in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary, advised 209 new clients in 2006. 172 of those were women and 37 men. It offered 2,355 hours of counselling sessions in 2006 in
the mid-west area which was a sig- nificant increase on the figure for the previous year.
Nationally, the Rape Crisis Net- work gave counselling to more than 1,600 people last year.
The mid-west centre says the number of male victims of sexual abuse now presenting is steadily in- creasing.
Co-ordinator Miriam Duffy said victims should report abuse as early as possible.
“The earlier they can get on to us, the better for themselves, as it will be less negative for them as they get on with their lives,” she said.
She said two in five women and
one in five men in the mid-west will experience sexual violence at some stage of their lives.
“One-third of the population of the Midwest will experience sexual violence in their lifetime,’ said Ms Duffy.
She said there is no fixed time set aside for counselling sessions. Some victims just attend once, while oth- ers receive counselling for up to a year.
“We are usually a bit busier around Christmas and if there is publicity about an incident,’ she added.
“We are starting to get men who are recent survivors of sexual abuse, le. that it happened in their adult-
hood,” she added.
“The profile of people coming to us is changing. We are getting more in the mid-range, between the ages of 24 and 39. Previously our clients were older and younger than that age bracket,” she said.
Ms Duffy also said that more vol- unteers were required, in order that the service could continue to progress and offer advice and counselling to all victims who came forward. The service 1S currently under pressure for resources.
“It has fallen off so we expect that our figures will show a reduction in hours’ counselling for this year,’ said Ms Duffy.