AUSTRALIA
The Age
Konrad Marshall
Senior writer
The messages arrived quickly, mere moments after the first news stories went up this week about Cardinal George Pell.
Were do i get help mate, wrote the anonymous man.
i was abused by all of them
aĺl the brothers
im 47 and i have been silent.
For this one survivor among many, the royal commission hearings this week were too much. The denials. The foggy memories. The feeling of helplessness took him back to that time when he was tied to a chair, sexually abused and belted with canes.
The man was referred to the Centre Against Sexual Assault, the peak organisation for sexual assault counselling in Victoria.
Carolyn Worth, spokesperson for the CASA Forum, said the demand for help of this kind has spiked dramatically since Cardinal Pell took the stand, with serious inquiries jumping almost 15 per cent in one week.
Ms Worth spoke to one front line operator who could not recall a worst shift on the job than Monday’s.
“She did 13 intakes, perhaps 30 minutes each, talking to desperate people who wanted to make an appointment for counselling,” Ms Worth said. “We used to think one month was an unreasonable wait time. But now in a number of locations around the state we have wait times of two and three months, and others with wait times of five months. It just doesn’t stop.”
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