The focus of Survive's work is with adult survivors. We are the only specialist agency of our kind in North Yorkshire.
Statistics on the prevalence and effects of childhood abuse are difficult to obtain with any degree of accuracy. This is in large part due to the stigma that has and still does exist around being a survivor of such abuse, and the difficulty of defining exactly what constitutes sexual abuse. Official figures are known only to include a fraction of the true incidence, due to the vast number of cases, which are not reported to any official agency. This said, a study by J Read (Child Abuse and Severity of Disturbance Among Adult Psychiatric Inpatients) 1998 revealed that 50% of female psychiatric inpatients were sexually abused as children. Another study revealed that over one million children are abused in some way or another each year in the UK. 50% of those abused (now adults) never reported the abuse. In 67% of cases the abuse started before the age of 11 years and in 50% of cases, the abuse lasted 2-18 years (NCPCA 1996). The legacy of childhood sexual abuse can be devastating, making itself felt years later, and seeming insurmountable at times. Adults who were sexually abused as children often find they have a host of difficulties: depression, illness, eating disorders, issues with sex and intimacy, or drug and alcohol abuse. They may find themselves in dangerous situations again and again, as if some basic safety skills are missing, or be driven to hurt themselves, cut themselves, finding some relief from the intolerable pain in making it visible. Some adults have gone for many years without telling anyone about what happened to them. They may have been threatened with awful consequences if they did tell. They may believe that the adults around them need protecting from such knowledge, or be sure that they would be blamed, or accused of lying. In many cases, children do try to tell, verbally or otherwise, but no one can hear them or believe them. Survive provides a place where people can access support and begin to heal from the abuse they suffered.Last Updated:October 2005
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