There were days when I honestly didn’t think I could cope any longer.
The anger, confusion, psychological damage caused by sexual and violent crimes means that sadly, some survivors develop unhealthy coping strategies and behavioural issues that make it a real challenge for 3rd party victims of crime to keep their loved one and other family members safe.
Sometimes, as the closest person to the survivor, the 3rd party victims of crime will bear the brunt of the destructive behaviours. Combined with feelings of guilt and shame, many 3rd party victims of crime battle on to support their loved ones through some enormous issues. This is exhausting, destructive and means that many 3rd party victims of crime fail to seek help and support. Often, they are unsure what will happen if they ask for help, worrying that their parenting will be put under intense scrutiny, their own behaviour may be questioned or their loved one will end up either in hospital or facing criminal charges.
In addition, under-resourcing of essential services means that sometimes the very services that should be there to help, fail to do so, adding an additional level of stress or anger.
- The impact of childhood sexual abuse is summarised in this report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
- This article (and the papers that reference it) describe the impact of crime on individuals.
- The destruction caused by domestic abuse and witnessing it as a child can be read on this page from Women’s Aid.
- Rape crisis lists some of the difficulties faced by survivors of sexual violence. For male survivors of rape or sexual abuse, Survivors UK has specific information for men.