Our annual statistics since 1995 have shown that 20-25% of all our clients are men who have suffered sexual violence at some time in their lives. Some of their difficulties around coming for counselling in the first place have included:

However, men who have had the courage to make contact with us have told us that they found the experience helpful and enabled them eventually to move on in their lives.

Some of the male clients who were interviewed for our book In Their Own Words, for instance, made comments like "the counselling relieved the pressure inside me, like cleaning the wounds out", and "counselling gave me freedom and liberation from the way the abuse had destroyed my life and had affected me as an individual, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and even physically."

The decision to access counselling around something so private and intimate is not an easy one. Our counsellors recognise that, and no client is pressured to say more than they feel able to disclose at any one time. What we hope is that over time, as the relationship grows and trust develops, the client will feel safer to engage in the process of disclosure and discovery, and ultimately, as Brendan puts it in the book, "it was through counselling that I’ve been able to live. I’m now in touch with what I feel. I can also express what I feel, which is vital. I’m more open to myself and people close to me. I feel liberated. I still have work to do, but I’ve achieved a great deal. The child that I was, and the adolescent I was, are no longer captive. The memories no longer haunt me."