Third lockdown putting more pressure on Dorset families
Acts Fast charity say they've seen a 50% rise in support needed
The third lockdown is putting more pressure on families, according to a Dorset Charity.
Acts Fast supports non-abusive parents after a child discloses sexual abuse.
This week is Sexual Violence Awareness week.
The charity is providing 50% more support to parents than it did during the first lockdown.
Mandy Gulliver is the charity’s CEO. She said:
“The trauma that we’re seeing is not one that we’ve seen before it seems to be extremely impacted, really overwhelming for them.
“Because there is no outlet because there are no other activities, there’s no schooling, sitting with the emotion within the family is just off the scale and people are really, really suffering.”
Mandy says families who would ordinarily come for support one every month are now coming every two weeks.
“Our support compared to the last lockdown, we’re up by 50% of the support that people are requiring.
“So, the impact on the whole family’s mental health is really quite scary and off the scale.”
The charity wants to encourage more people to talk appropriately with their children about sexual abuse.
She added:
“It is very difficult to talk about this subject and I understand that. People don’t want to think this is happening.
“Without talking about it and raising this awareness that this is actually happening, we’re actually doing an injustice to our children.” Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.