Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A COUNSELLING SERVICE for survivors of childhood abuse in Ireland has said there was a substantial increase in new callers in the last year.
Connect Counselling said it expects it will have received some 9,000 calls by the end of the year, with 54% of service users reaching out for the first time.
“For many people who have suffered childhood abuse beginning to speak of those experiences can bring feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt and fear of judgement,” director Theresa Merrigan said today. She said she believes the increase in new callers is due to the service being better known now and due to its anonymous nature which is comforting to those who are not ready to for face-to-face counselling.
Also many callers can find it difficult to get to a face to face counselling service because of geographical location, child care, lack of transport, or physical and emotional challenges. The telephone service can be an excellent resource for people in these circumstances.
Over the past three years, there has been a 42% increase in individual callers to Connect.
The most common overall setting for abuse was in the family (48%) followed by the community (31%) and 15% were institutional. However, in the caller age group over 50 up to 23% of callers spoke of institutional abuse.
In terms of the family abuse – 24% reported abuse by father, of which 12.5% was sexual abuse; 21% reported abuse by mother, predominantly emotional and physical abuse; 11% reported abuse by brother, 10% of which was sexual abuse. Emotional abuse was the most common type reported overall.
65% of callers were female, 35% were male and 0.5% were transgender. Just 7% of callers were under the age of 30.
Connect, which is a HSE funded service, is available at freephone 1800 477 477 from the Republic of Ireland and 00800 477 477 77 from Northern Ireland and the UK. Opening times are 6-10pm Wednesday to Sunday with additional hours at times of high service demand.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Sounds idilic but what about employment?
@David Grey: and is there many single women there.. Another important question
@David Grey: nail, head
Married and willing would do too
@Peter King: Yep, Mayo is known for its nail head factories. Plenty of employment there
@David Grey:
You’ll be far to busy making fire and building shelters than worrying about employment. Scavenging wild mushrooms and berries for breakfast, trapping wild grouse and distilling your own urine. Won’t be enough hours in the day as it is.
@David Grey: How about creating your own job?
@Acedeuce: Fleeced with them, if you get my drift.
@Tweed Cap: you should see the magic mushrooms coming up after the rain the last few days. Happy days.
When Sam goes .. I’ll go!
What are the broadband speeds like?
@Peter King: and is there shopping delivery
There hasn’t been a band around in years , since they closed the hall
@Peter King: somewhere between “slow” and ” what’s broadband??”…..basically like all of rural Ireland
achill island. now that is a place i;d like to live
@Just Some Guy: You haven’t been then? Went there for long weekend in our camper van left after one day!
Skangers need not apply. If only
Moved from London to remote Mayo, I’m able to work from anywhere and it made sense when we had a kid, 20 years living in NW London to the remote west of Ireland was a daunting thought, but it was amazing, also commuted regularly back to the city via Knock, it was a breeze and much quicker than getting to Dublin, a fantastic place to live, no longer there as I need to engage with Dublin and we’re still figuring out some vital assistances for ‘rural’ Ireland, transport, broadband, etc. It’s maddening how small the island is and how we’ve not yet mastered our way around it, don’t suppose it would be very rural/remote if we did.
Take 3 generations to be fully accepted by the community
Till you look at the world it all a con , control and greed by a few. Ireland is tiny with a small population , it could be great country throughout for all. Even if we took a small percentage of the people that seek work in the UK our economy could grow.
Be there in a minute, hang on
Land of The Yews…….
Moving home is not a simple solution or an easy thing to do . You have to leave behind your families and friends . In short you have to leave behind your support system !
@Frank Dubogovik: FYI,broadband speeds here in Westport faster than most areas in Dublin
Pardon my language but $uck Los Vegas ours is real
Agreed. Though Westport may be the exception rather than the rule, its broadband speed is well ahead of the norm.
Not to mention the fantastic social life!
have your say