The good news is that even people who have experienced the most severe childhood trauma and abuse can and do recover. But how do we as communities support survivors to come forward and get the help and support they need to reclaim their health and wellbeing?
It’s a big problem. Many of the four to five million Australian adults who are survivors of childhood trauma and abuse do show remarkable resilience and manage well. However, many do not, and are left struggling day to day with their emotions, relationships, sense of who they are and where they fit in the world. Left without the help needed they fill our mental health appointment schedules and wards, our general hospitals, detox units, homeless shelters, welfare queues and gaols.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse is the largest inquiry of its kind ever undertaken, nationally or internationally. It is a courageous and significant undertaking. But is it enough to change the status quo by itself? The fact is that the legacy of child abuse, for the most part, remains steeped in secrecy and collective denial. Most people still don’t want to talk or even think about it.
Child abuse is an unfortunate reality within all countries, communities, races and religions. All communities and cultures deny its prevalence, impacts and costs; certain communities and cultures simply deny them to a greater or lesser degree. The challenges posed by childhood trauma are not limited to the personal. They are grounded in broad socio-political concerns that fuel the intransigence to change. Changes only occur slowly.
Our growing understanding of brain plasticity has educated us about the formative power of social experience in the creation of the self – the “social brain” and the healing power of positive relationships. The same applies to social systems.
Over recent years we have witnessed widespread revelations of abuse, often of a systemic nature within an array of institutions. Many people have experienced multiple compounded abuses within institutions and have been left struggling as a result, their needs ignored by those in positions of power. The Royal Commission has been formed to explore how we can change the systems within institutions to better protect children.
The vast majority of child abuse, however, occurs not in institutional environments but within the home and family. Societies perpetuate a sacrosanct belief in home and hearth. Thankfully, most homes and families are indeed safe havens where parents love, care for and protect their children. However, there is sadly also a different reality, and that reality ruptures powerful cultural fantasies around the ideals of family life.
Family business is perceived as private; it occurs behind closed doors; “family secrets” are preserved. According to the NAPCAN 2010 survey, less than 50 per cent of Australians would take formal action to protect a child they knew was being abused. Even if a child disclosed sexual abuse, only 34 per cent of Australians said they would involve the police.
Families that are isolated and are themselves closed to scrutiny provide the perfect environment for abuse to flourish. Child victims abused in the family are often additionally silenced by fear, shame and stigma. Confused and conflicted, they are being hurt by the very person who is meant to love and care for them.
Perpetrators use secrecy and silence to hide their crimes, and if secrecy fails they attack the credibility of their victims. So how can we as a society remove the taboo of shame associated with being abused? What can we do to create a society that is receptive to those who have been victimised within it, that encourages people to speak up and speak out, and that acts when they do? A society that supports the victim, that reports abuse in institutions, organisations, schools, neighbourhoods, homes and families?
It is time to speak openly about the factors that foster ongoing abuse and how to mitigate them. When survivors come forward and disclose, they need to be heard by a society that is ready to listen. ASCA (Adults Surviving Child Abuse) has established a national day, Blue Knot Day, on which it asks all communities to unite in support of Australian adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse. This year it’s on Monday October 28 and the theme is recovery. And how we can all work together to help support survivors of child abuse throughout their adult lives.
We’re inviting people to host their own event on October 28 and the week to follow until November 3, 2013. Whether it’s a faith-based service, a breakfast event or a themed display, we are hoping to see people from all over Australia getting involved and doing something positive to help.
