Coming back from the brink
Isolated, lacking support and not able to see his children Ryan* didn’t know where to turn. Suicidal thoughts had started to creep in with isolation compounding the issue. Family members…
Articles
Ninety-four percent of sexual assaults go unreported – survey
One in four people experience sexual assault in their lifetime, but 94 percent of those assaults are not reported to the police, the largest survey of crime in New Zealand…
‘You grow up hating yourself’: why child abuse survivors keep – and break – their silence
Earlier this year Erin Delaney revealed on Facebook a secret she’d kept from almost everyone. As a child she suffered physical and emotional abuse and severe neglect. The neglect had…
Catholic Church’s legal deluge compounded by damning Pell findings
The Catholic Church is facing hundreds of civil claims by victims of clerical sex abuse, bolstered by the royal commission’s findings about Cardinal George Pell’s role in the “catastrophic failure of leadership” in the Ballarat diocese.
Damning evidence against Cardinal George Pell | 60 Minutes Australia (Video)
In 2015, 60 Minutes presented damning new evidence against Pell. He has always argued his intervention on behalf of child abuse victims was innovative, independent and compassionate. But now, secret…
The hidden findings on George Pell are now clear: he could have protected children from abuse. He didn’t
This is the portrait of a deceitful man. We have waited over two and a half years but now we can read the unflinching verdict reached by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Cardinal George Pell.
With its last findings made public, it’s clear that no senior figure in any church who gave evidence to the commission has emerged as damaged as Pell.
History will not be kind to George Pell, as royal commission reveals its secret findings
For more than 1,400 days, they waited.
Little kids but now grown up, the childhoods they’d left behind stained by trauma. They waited to discover what a Prince of the Church knew.
From those four days in 2016 when George Pell gave evidence from Rome via video link because his Vatican doctor declared him unable to fly to Australia; through the rest of the royal commission; through his trials, his appeals, and through a final month of delay.
Looking after mental health and wellbeing during Covid-19 resource (PDF)
If you’re a manager or workplace leader you can have a direct impact on the welfare and wellbeing of your employees. The latest resource from the Mental Health Foundation will…
Intentional Peer Support: A Personal Retrospective by Shery Mead
Shery Mead’s keynote address at the Experts by Experience Conference 2011. April 2020
Recognition for Waikato support services for male survivors
Mike Holloway’s team in the Waikato (Male Support Services) congratulated by the Mayor for “providing an extremely valuable service, for which our city is very, very grateful.” View letter (PDF…
Shamed into silence: The hidden victims of male ‘honour’ abuse – BBC Newsnight
Most people have heard about “honour abuse” of women but men can be hidden victims too. Coming from conservative religious communities, they can find themselves having to hide anything from sexual abuse to domestic violence to their being gay, because to speak out could dishonour their families. Newsnight’s Katie Razzall has been speaking to men trapped in this predicament. If you need support with forced marriage or honour violence, help and support is available bbc.co.uk/actionline
Coronavirus: Chance for ‘meaningful change’ for the homeless
Leaving covid behind should not mean leaving the homeless out in the cold again, advocates say. Director and founder of the Male Room Philip Chapman said while the lockdown response…
Labor urges early payments for sick, elderly survivors of child sex abuse
Labor fears some of the thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse with unresolved redress claims could die before they are compensated under the $3.8 billion scheme and has urged the federal government to make early payments to sick and elderly survivors.
Male Survivors Aotearoa launches ‘Effectiveness with Maori’ strategy
Kia Mārire (“Effectiveness with Māori”) is the national strategy of Male Survivors Aotearoa to provide a range of support services that are effective for Māori. View Kia Mārire
Coronavirus: Free phone counselling for lockdown relationship issues
The Male Room usually offers people a place to go, get some kai, and talk to someone face-to-face. Under the lockdown rules a lot of that has changed, but director…
“To say it out loud is to kill your own childhood.” – An exploration of the first person perspective of barriers to disclosing child sexual abuse.
Read article (PDF) By Jorunn E. Halvorsena, Ellen Tvedt Solbergb, Signe Hjelen Stigec April 2020
Police investigating George Pell over fresh child sexual abuse allegation – report
Cardinal George Pell is being investigated by police over a new allegation of child sexual abuse, according to News Corp reports. Pell was released from jail last Tuesday after the…
MSA issues new practice note for guidance on remote support during Covid-19
Appreciate your Covid-19 role and focus Understand and manage the risks of remote support services Pay special attention to privacy and confidentiality Be prepared for a safe and enabling interaction…
Child sexual abuse victims should not be put off by George Pell decision, experts say
Victims of child sexual abuse should not be dissuaded from coming forward and reporting perpetrators as a result of the jury conviction of Cardinal George Pell being overturned by the…
How George Pell won in the High Court on a legal technicality
The High Court today granted Cardinal George Pell special leave to appeal, and unanimously allowed the appeal. In other words, Pell won. His convictions were quashed and he will be…
Provision of peer support at the intersection of homelessness and problem substance use services: a systematic ‘state of the art’ review
Peer support refers to a process whereby individuals with lived experience of a particular phenomenonprovide support to others by explicitly drawing on theirpersonal experience. It has been adopted in a…
More accusers come forward against Pell
Two men have come forward publicly for the first time to accuse George Pell of sexually abusing them when they were young boys housed in a Catholic orphanage. In allegations…
COVID-19: Information related to family, whanau and sexual violence (for information)
The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse and Nga Wai a te Tui are partnering to bring together information related to COVID-19. The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse website is bringing…
Convicted paedophile Bernard McGrath abused dozens of children. The Catholic Church failed to report his offending.
Former brother of St John of God, Bernard McGrath, will be eligible for parole in December 2044. McGrath, who is serving two prison sentences in NSW for sex crimes against…