Australian Helplines:

Blue Knot Foundation - 1300 657 380

Bravehearts Inc - 1800 272 831

Child Wise - 1800 991 099

Sexual Assault Counselling Australia -

  1800 211 028

1800respect

   1800 737 732

 

Royal Commission List

 of Support Services

 

Trauma

  Release

  Background:  
 The announcement of the Australian

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child sexual Abuse


 by the Prime Minister  on Monday 12 November 2012  was welcomed.
 The Secretariat received 200 formal submissions ( including mine)  and 600 emails during the consultation period
when stakeholders, survivors and the public were invited by the Attorney General to suggest Terms of Reference.
   About three weeks after the announcement I saw the need to provide links to survivor services, and set up this site. for Aussie Survivors of child sexual abuse.  having found to cater for survivors  during the last 15 years since I commenced my journey of recovery.  AS earely as 1998 I saw that sexual assault services to be the most helpful starting points with enormous potential to be comprehensive referal points of referance as well as most offering  Helpline based support as issues arise.   

    Since then the aussie survivors site grew with my own articles and concepts - in particular  the Grid of Issues

          The Grid of Issues is a non sequencial tabel of issues survivors face including aspects of recovery.

                                                                                                                                             and      A multimensional Model

 

     I have in particular advocated that

  sexual assault counseling and trauma release counseling  be recognised as unique health care professions

        with the minimum training being a Specialised Interdisciplinarty Masters Degree.

            as distinct from "mental health" ( which is cognative)  s they are neurophysiological



    Support  Services and  Organisations.

 


Many of these organisations have helpful and informative articles on their site.

         ASCA - Adults Surviving Child Abuse  now known as the Blue Knot Foundation

                         ASCA has a Professional Support Line for Survivors  1300 657  380 in Australia


       the recent increased funding from the Federal Government
 has enabled ASCA to employ additional professional male and female counsellors
 9 -5  Mon to Sat coverage during 2014  Now the Royal Commission has ended

  Funding will depend on the Australian Government  Funding arrangements.




    Bravehearts ,
                       
has been a tireless campaigner of Child Protection who also offer help and advice.
                    
National telephone crisis support and information   1800 272 831

                        In January 2018 Brtavehearts announced the provision of

     Bravehearts therapeutic and support services through this online protal





The South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA)

provides services within the Southern Metropolitan Region ( of Victoria, Australia) 

to children and adults, both female and male, who have been sexually assaulted.

The Centre also works with non-offending family members, partners, caregivers and support workers.

 



Living Well  is a Queensland service for survivors of csa.
                    their websire has information and links.
                    telephone and chat support for survivors who
                    live in Queensland and can access their
                    face to face counsellors.



RAINN
Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network.
America's largest anti-sexual violence organization

Information for Female and Male Survivors.

Rain On Line Chat  Help

 



Broken Rites - for survivors of  Catholic institutions.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

also in Australia most teaching or regional hospitals have a sexual assault unit
survivors can ring in business hours to make an appointment.
in NSW most units only have female counselors.

 

another resource is Good Therapy Australia who have their  Find a Therapist feature.


Types of therapy is an excellent resource, listing all the different types of therapy.
 


                       



Disclaimer - I am just another survivor trying to be of assistance.
read at your own risk on a no liability basis


Services one survivor finds  useful may not assist other survivor
but are listed in good faith as a community service.

Survivors are encouraged to have face to face counseling
 from a sexual assault counselor or a trauma release counselor.

Many directories refer survivors to Lifeline
   Whilst Lifeline provide general support and hope when distressed which help callers to cope with
life's difficulties and help us to face difficult situations Lifeline is NOT a sexual assault counseling service

    however  Lifeline Counselors appear to be trauma informed .
   

some directories do not distinguish  mental health from sexual assault services
whilst untreated csa (child sexual abuse) may contribute to or trigger depression
     or even mental health issues
       I strongly argue  sexual assault counseling and trauma release counseling are seperate health care professionals.

my experience as a survivor is that the most helpful health care professionals are:

  • sexual assault counselors
  • psychologists and counselors with experience assisting csa survivors
  • understanding GP's  ( Doctors)
  • when other health professionals ( eg Dentist)  understand the impact csa can have in their field of medicine.
  • trauma release counselors ( a fairly new field of health care professionals )
  • comprehensive sites with articles.
  • google searches of issues as they arise ( but with a critical approach to determine helpful sites and eliminate sidetracks and unhelpful sites.)
  • understanding  clergy (  not all clergy cope with csa issues )   others offer short term pastoral care.

                    
                   the concept of  a Grid Of Issues  is based on the premise that  as we gradually progress along our journey of recovery there are issues which we face along the way
these issues surface with no particular pattern
sometimes I find I leave off one issue because another issue is hindering my progress.
so the grid is meant to be random
and the order on the page bears no resemblance to the order they need to be worked on.
The usefulness of the grid is  that it identifies issues whilst acknowledging they don't arise in any set order.

 

I am working on a  step by step  for survivors  recovery sitewhich I started building  26/11/2012
   


Another project I have commenced is reading the books, articles and Professional Journals
to understand the research behind the websites we tend to access on Google Searches.
Whilst much of my work is original
I will do my best to link to sources for further reading.

though its sometimes overwhelming when one has been researching, to recall every source.


    I am firmly of the opinion that we need to go beyond "GP" style counseling
and to be more forused on  referals to specialist counselors where needed and when available:

eg  most Degrees in Psychology have only 1 or no  units specifically in trauma

 

I suggest sexual assault counseling, and trauma release therapies

      are specialities which ought to be  seperate degrees or Post Grad Diplomas.

 

It is hoped that funding will one day be given to neuro psysiological  doctoral research centres
   to measure the neurological impact of sexual trauma on survivors and develop these proposed interdisciplinary courses.

 

I would encourage professionals to look at Courses offered such as
       Bravehearts on line cources for Professionals.
and  ASCA's Courses for Professionals.



    It is my view that there is a need for colaboration between the Sexual Assault Units and Chaplaincy
                                                    and between theology/ pastoral care  and psychology/counseling.
  noting some survivors avoid religion as it is triggering whilst others thrive on such integration.

  such interaction would also facilitate Clergy to better understand the impact of sexual abuse on survivors

    and the need for trauma informed ministry.

 
    
Feedback and enquiries :         nathan@aussiesurvivors.com