The response of professionals

Home: Survivors: Incest & Child Abuse: It happened to me

'The closest kind of help other than a home is school. We know that people are often not going to get help at home where it's all happening. If school isn't helpful there's no one else.'

'Teachers need to be trained about the myths. That was one of my biggest let downs. I told a student counsellor who went straight to my parents. They just thought of protecting the family and said I made it up. I felt like I had lost everything.'

'Teachers and doctors don't need to know how to deal with it but to pass it on to someone else. They do need to believe you and to have the right degree of compassion, not to dismiss it and say it's not my problem.'

'There are a lot of behavioural signs of sexual abuse. Professionals should be made aware of them so that they can follow them up. It should be an integral part of training of professionals such as doctors or teachers.'

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