Sex abuse victims who blot out the nightmares

Crushed self-esteem, fear of intimacy, anger...

Experts have long known the traumatic impact of sexual violence and exploitation on both children and adults; a legacy that lasts a lifetime and can even lead to illnesses such as arthritis.

But Abigail Finnegan, founder of Cumbria’s Safety Net charity for abuse victims, focused on another response.

The natural tendency to blot-it-out. “It’s a reflex,” she said. “A self-protection mechanism when something is too much to deal with.

“We forget because what’s happened is too powerful; too difficult for a person to deal with.”

In a strange twist, the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal triggered an avalanche of high-profile investigations and debate, spotlighting the issue of abuse so powerfully that victims can no longer look away.

Many have found themselves painfully jolted into confronting their past.

The scandals have kept coming.

There were revelations about the sexual exploitation of children in Oxford, Rochdale, Rotherham, and even Carlisle, where restaurant boss Azad Miah, 44, was jailed for systematically abusing schoolgirls.

Abigail said: “There is now so much media attention focused on sexual abuse that people are being triggered for the first time.

“Jimmy Savile was the first one but it’s been followed by so many others: Rotherham, Oxford, and others. It has a cumulative effect: one person starts talking about it, then two, then hundreds.

“It’s triggering people, leading to disclosures.” Over the last year, Safety Net has seen powerful evidence that Cumbria – along with other parts of the UK – is now confronting the difficult legacy of abuse that was hitherto undisclosed.

“You can’t bury something like that,” said Abigail.

Thankfully, Safety Net has been at the heart of Cumbria’s response to this tidal wave of disclosure – and the charity’s latest statistics show the scale of the challenge that has emerged. In the year to April, the number of people being referred to Safety Net shot up by 77 per cent.

Abigail said: “In the last year, we’ve been supporting 447 people. The majority of those were self-referred.”

Of those helped by the charity in the last year, 191 were children – 94 of them aged under 12. Disturbingly, nine of the children who turned to Safety Net said they had never told anybody of the abuse they had suffered. A further 45 said they were not fully supported.

“That tells us a lot about the state of our culture,” said Abigail.

And the increase in new referrals may show a greater awareness of the need to challenge abuse.

Abigail Finnegan But huge challenges remain. Abigail pointed to the easy availability of porn on digital TV channels, sending out a clear and damaging message to young people about the purpose of women.

“It’s unacceptable,” she said.

In Cumbria, the flood of victims coming forward has coincided with an expansion in the help and support now available – much of it led in north Cumbria by Safety Net.

The charity is part of a network of provision that strives to reach out to survivors, supporting them whether they want the perpetrator put before a court or not. The support is fine-tuned.

Initially, it can include emotional and practical support, recognising that victims often face practical hurdles such as housing, medical support, or money issues before they cope with the trauma. Longer term, survivors are supported in ways, including specialist psychotherapy and help to understand the emotional and physical symptoms of abuse – including illness.

The county has six four independent sexual violence advisors (Isvas) – specialists who help guide survivors on their journey to recovery.

All of these things are helping to revolutionise the help that is on offer to victims of sex crimes in Cumbria.

But perhaps the most eye-catching change – consistently campaigned for by Safety Net – has been the opening of the county’s dedicated Sexual Assault Support Service. 

The so-called Bridgeway service at Penrith ended years of victims having to travel out of the county for forensic examinations at a time when they were already traumatised.

Abigail spent years campaigning for it – and was thrilled to see it become a reality with support from paediatrician Dr Neela Shabde and Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes.

Abigail said: “The police here are amazing. If they are not able to take people through the criminal justice system because the evidence is not as robust as it needs to be, they are careful to direct people to support services.”

Part of professionalising support for those affected by sexual assault and abuse has been a ground-breaking survey carried out by Safety Net, paid for by the county’s Clinical Commissioning Group, which decides how most of Cumbria’s NHS money is spent.

The survey involved 135 young people across the county – half from the general population and the other half from among those who have needed support after abuse.

It was the first time in the UK that such an evidence-based approach to shaping services has been tried.

“They were telling us that they wanted a response which takes into account their emotional well-being,” said Abigail. “This survey also threw up some real insights.

“A 14-year-old girl talked about what she needed in ‘the worst of times’. She said one of the things she needed was to stay in touch with her family and friends. Yet in a police investigation a mobile phone is often taken away for examination.

“It was a hallelujah moment. It’s their means of communication. So you replace a phone.”

As for the future, Abigail said there are many challenges ahead – not least the need to focus more on abuse prevention. But whatever the future may hold it seems certain that Cumbria is now better equipped than it has ever been to focus the challenge of transforming sex abuse victims into survivors.

Where to get help

If you have been a victim of sexual violence or abuse, you can contact Safety Net confidentially on 01228 515859.

The charity's website address is www.safetynetuk.org

The email address is office@safetynetuk.org