AUSTRALIA
Courier
By MELISSA CUNNINGHAM
March 4, 2016
Ballarat’s deputy mayor Belinda Coates’s understanding of the complexities of child sexual abuse is more intricate than many would know.
For years, before she embarked on a career change into local government Cr Coates was a senior counsellor at the Centre Against Sexual Assault in Ballarat.
She said many people who had been sexually abused suffered post trauma responses often mirroring the symptoms of somebody who had experienced the horror of a war.
“When it is a physical trauma you can see it, but when it’s an emotional or psychological trauma it’s hidden away and very invisible,” she said. “A lot of people in the community wouldn’t realise that and how common of a response that is and the devastating impact it can have on peoples’ lives.”
Cr Coates said representing the City of Ballarat and supporting survivors on their trip to Rome to bear witness to Cardinal George Pells evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had been an extraordinarily humble feat.
“What has been incredible is all the support from home that has been flowing in for me to pass onto the survivors,” Cr Coates said. “The survivors are incredibly courageous but it has certainly been so hard for them. They have felt the weight of it all on their shoulders and they have felt all the bigger issues, like protecting children of the present and future.That’s a big responsibility for anyone.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.