“A sharp jump in calls to a helpline about online sexual abuse has sparked an appeal for parents to discuss internet safety with children receiving smartphones, games consoles and tablet computers this Christmas. The NSPCC said there were 3,716 Childline counselling sessions about the issue in 2015/16 – a 24 per cent increase on the…
This isn’t an area I’ve spent very much time writing about or investigating myself, but I do recognize the difficulty of growing up without learning how to recognize or deal with your own emotions due to a lack of emotional response in childhood. I know some of you are dealing with this, perhaps as one…
This well-known “fact” just isn’t true. In fact, the suicide rate is lowest in December and instead peaks in spring. Why does this matter? It matters because while we may feel obligated to call or see Uncle Joe during the holidays, we might not reach out to him when he needs us most — which depending…
With 1 in 5 children being sexually abused by the time they are 18, the chances are that someday you may learn that a child you love has been abused. So what do you do? How do you handle something like that? At Defend Innocence, we want to educate every parent and caregiver about how…
It’s a question we like to avoid: Who are you? It may be the question, actually. There’s so much weight to those words you can’t help but feel them hit you as your ears and brain correspond to decipher the message. Sure, some could stare straight into your eyes and answer with confidence. But for most of us, the journey to self-discovery…
When people say that to us- about not wanting to break up their families by speaking the truth, we say the same thing every time- “Oh honey, your family is already broken.” If sexual abuse is happening within your family, if the cycle of abuse and trauma is playing out on a loop from hell…
