Sex abuse survivors offer help

An article from Stuff

Louise Nicholas says she intends to use her public profile to help the silent survivors of sexual abuse in her new national role as a "survivor advocate". Mrs Nicholas, who will report to a government taskforce on sexual violence, officially announced her role in Auckland last night.
Mrs Nicholas was speaking at the launch of a self-help book for the survivors of sexual abuse, written by the director of Rape Prevention Education, Dr Kim McGregor. She was joined by Dancing With the Stars dancer Aaron Gilmore, a survivor of sexual abuse and a volunteer for the organisation.
Dr McGregor said the role formalised what Mrs Nicholas had already been doing since her high-profile rape case against former police officers Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum and Clint Rickards. All three were acquitted, and it was revealed later that Shipton and Schollum had been convicted in 2005 of the pack rape of another woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989.
Mrs Nicholas has been given government funding for a year to collect the stories of other sexual violence victims for schools, health professionals and policymakers.
Figures showed 24 per cent of Auckland women and 28 per cent of North Waikato women were abused by the age 15 and 32 per cent of Otago women (out of nearly 500 interviewed in the early 1990s) were abused before the age of 16.
Mrs Nicholas said her role was to be an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. "I see the role as a voice to speak for those who can't speak for themselves."
She started work as a full-time "survivor advocate" for RPE in Auckland on July 12, and has already spent two weeks supporting a rape victim through an Auckland court case.
After her experiences Mrs Nicholas said she had heard from the "silent survivors". "It just tears at my heart.
"These women say to me we have got the courage to do what you've done because of you.
"That's huge, to be able to admit that, there's no shame in that.
"Eventually I would like to see this role extended across the country so there are many of us helping other sexual abuse survivors."
Gilmore, 29, who was sexually abused by a woman 25 years older than him from age 11 to 17 has recently become a volunteer for RPE.
Gilmore's abuser was convicted several years ago and he hopes he will give other survivors, particularly men the strength to come forward. "The only thing more common than sexual abuse is the cold."
Gilmore said he was an anomaly when he first went to police because he was a male victim with a female offender. A policeman to whom he first spoke about the abuse told him he failed to see what the crime was. "My first experiences with the legal side of things were quite horrible."
Dr McGregor said sexual violence had fallen off the political agenda over the last 20 years. There were 25 rape crisis groups in the 1980s and now there were about 12, she said. "I feel more positive now than I have in 20 years and that's because of the taskforce on sexual violence and that is a result of the bravery of Louise Nicholas.
"We started campaigning for the taskforce on the back of the marches throughout the country in outrage over the acquittals.
"Even though it has been a devastating thing for her (Mrs Nicholas), she has made it a positive thing."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/567390