Single please to Dai Barnet

MORE than 900 sexual violence and abuse victims are on a waiting list for counselling with Nexus NI, the charity’s chief has said.

Experts in the field recently gathered at Belfast’s Riddel Hall for the Journey Of Hope conference where they heard about the huge difference counselling makes to victims.

But Nexus NI chief Brenda Kelly revealed how they don’t have the cash to provide the “crucial” service when those who have been raped or sexually abused finally find the courage to ask for it.

She told the Mirror: “At the minute we are very oversubscribed.

“We have a waiting list that’s in excess of 900 people that we don’t have the funds or the counsellors to be able to provide [ for].

“That’s really heartbreaking because we understand how crucial this is for people.

“We know that whenever they finally get the courage to come forward, to seek help and seek counselling and the time is right for them, that we want that counselling to be there for them.”

Nexus Board member Dr Helen Beckett, who’s director of the sexual abuse research centre at the University of Bedfordshire, also extols the benefits of counselling but said the system must be consistent.

She added: “Harming takes time, healing takes longer and if you look at the trauma of what children and young people have gone through – we absolutely know we can support and we can move on they can have fulfilling lives.

“I speak to many children and young people who have had a really good experience and I speak to many who haven’t and feel really let down by the system and have not been treated well.

“There’s no justification for why where you live, the police force or the trust you live in or indeed the very professional you engage with means some young people come away feeling believed and supported while others coming away describing their experience of the system as actually as traumatic as experiencing the abuse itself.”

Social Work consultant David Gillen also spoke at the conference about adversity and trauma following his own childhood experiences and an adulthood in social work.

He first had counselling at the age of 61 and said it helped him “find peace of mind”.

Mr Gillen said: “I had to wait three months for them to engage with me – that’s probably less of a time than some others.

“My view is if you are in crisis, you need the help then – not be on a waiting list.

“That is not the fault of Nexus – I believe that is a lack of funding.”

A Public Health Agency spokesperson said: “Sustained investment is required to address the waiting list backlog across a range of services.

“We recognise the important work that Nexus NI does with those who have been affected by sexual violence.

“Nexus NI was awarded a three-year contract from 2019 to 2022 to carry out its work with scope to extend a further two years before the contract would be formally re-procured.

“In recognition of the demand and to help reduce waiting lists in 2018/19, Nexus NI was awarded a further £304,500 from confidence and supply funding to address its waiting list.”

NEXUS NI BOARD

THE iconic London Tube map has been translated into Welsh.

David Smith came up with the idea when on the Underground with pals.

They started translating stops as a joke but he later changed the whole map into Welsh names.

Among them are Baker Street to Stryd Bacr and Brixton to Maenbrics.

David, of Birmingham – who learned the lingo while working on trains in Wales – said: “It was quite an interesting process.”

HORROR Dealing with trauma