Finding a place for healing: Women survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their experience of accessing services

Women survivors of child sexual abuse often suffer a range of difficulties including a chronic and painful sense of insecurity, a lack of self-esteem, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, poor frustration tolerance, overwhelming emotions, depression, sensitivity to criticism and rejection, distrust, suspiciousness and a fragile sense of self. They may also experience a range of serious psychological consequences, their life trajectory often marked by chaos and complexity. In Australia, services have been developed in government, non-government and private sectors to meet the needs of these women; however, anecdotal evidence suggests that services may be patchy in both availability and standards. The aim of the Reframing Responses study (O'Brien, Henderson & Bateman, 2006) was to explore the provision of services in the non-government sector. This paper presents findings related to the experiences of women survivors of child sexual abuse in accessing and utilising services. A qualitative study design was used. Fourteen women participated in focus groups and interviews to provide rich descriptions of their experiences of disclosure, accessing services, what was helpful, and what was unhelpful. The women provided descriptions of their experience of services across all sectors. They confirmed a lack of availability particularly in terms of longer-term counselling, a lack of consistency in terms of models and standards, and provided clear indications of what was helpful and what was not. The findings of this study have implications for the development of services for consistency in standards of services, models, and needs for training and education.