‘They are a special kind of hero’
S.O.A.R. offering vital healing for invisible wounds
Healing the wounds of childhood sexual violence is no simple matter.
Across the province a range of professionals, mentors, peer support workers and allies are engaged in this important work. A new initiative, based out of Kentville, is designed to provide a holistic, all-encompassing network of allies and mentors for survivors of childhood sexual violence.
“We want to bring together like-minded organizations so we can share ideas, policies, training and best practices,” says Cathy Vey, board chair of Survivors of Abuse Recovering (S.O.A.R.), the lead organization on the project. “It’s about becoming more efficient.”
Founded in 1993, and welcoming both survivors and community allies of all genders, S.O.A.R. is a community-based, peer support service for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Nova Scotia.
“The organization was founded by two psychiatric nurses who were working in this field and saw a need for more services than the public system was able to provide,” Vey points out.
For almost three decades S.O.A.R. has developed an extensive training regimen for its peer support workers. This new initiative is focused on offering this acquired expertise to support workers and professionals from other organizations who want to train and manage volunteers to aid fellow survivors.
“S.O.A.R. has been training peer support workers since its inception,” Vey says. “Now we’ve updated our training so other organizations can adapt it to their specific circumstances.”
Funded by the provincial Department of Health and Wellness, the project began three years ago, and was called Enhancing Organization’s Capacity to Provide Mutual Aid Services to Survivors of Sexual Violence and Other Trauma. A total of nine agencies are now committed to working together to create the Sexual Violence Peer Support Network.
With an overburdened and underfunded public mental health system, peer support – survivors helping other survivors – is crucial in promoting recovery, Vey points out.
“We have people who have experienced childhood sexual violence but are now in a good place in their lives and they want to help other people.”
The peer support workers undergo an intensive, 48-module training regimen, spread out over eight weekends.
“They are trained to help survivors, while not being triggered themselves by what they hear.”
S.O.A.R.’s training manual has now been provided to the partner organizations and can be modified as needed to meet the needs of each organization.
“It gives them a big leg up to not have to create the training from scratch because we’ve already done that,” Vey says.
A peer mentor position was also created as part of the project to help the support workers when they come across new and difficult situations.
“The peer mentor is somebody who has a lot more experience at this,” Vey says. The peer support workers and the peer mentors are all volunteers, she adds.
“They are a special kind of hero. They are people who are just beginning on the road to getting over the secrecy and the shame,” she says. “It is hard work, but it is so very important.”