January has been another period of great activity and focusing on the future

Continued revelations of historic child abuse continue to create a climate of greater public, political and press realisation that male sexual abuse is a reality and can happen to anyone. Both institutions and individuals have been under scrutiny: the football clubs issue has caused shock waves and Frost was given 13 life sentences at the Old Bailey and will serve a minimum of 16 years. 

While the awareness of such abuse may be growing, however, there is insufficient attention given to the nature and extent of what can be done to help the survivors themselves. The Needs Assessment report comissioned recently by the Mayor of London identifies a problem that exists nationwide: the lack of specialised services for male survivors and the paucity of longer-term provision of emotional support and therapy. This is where we come in. 

• We have recently become part of Clinic26 (named after the average number of years it takes a survivor to report the abuse) and hope that being part of a wider service involved in men’s sexual health will be a model in which our services do not stand alone but are an integral part of general provision.
• We have also taken on part-time a very experienced psychotherapist Katherine Cox who has worked with us as a clinical supervisor in the past to enable us to undertake more assessments and also facilitate our new groupwork.

Moreover, I am pleased that we have now secured funds to see us through the next financial year.