NEXUS NI’s operations manager says the rise of the ‘Me Too’ hash tag on social media has united sexual violence sufferers across the world.

Marking Sexual Violence Awareness Week with an open office event at its local premises on the Irvinestown Road in Enniskillen recently Nexus NI has around 650 people across Northern Ireland on a waiting list for its counselling services at present.
“The waiting list is quite big,” concedes operations manager, Helena Bracken “But it is important to point out that the people on that waiting list are only the people who are prepared to wait. There are so many more people out there who cannot or do not want to wait for those services.
“It is so disheartening when people ring up and we have to tell them, ‘you will have to wait a while’.
“We feel powerless. Particularly because we are aware that when people phone us, they could be a their lowest -- something has happen to trigger that phone call from them. And yet we have to tell them, ‘yes we know you are in crisis, we know you need help, but we can’t see you for a couple of months’.”
Helena says Nexus NI has lobbied hard for more funding and resources.
“We are well supported by the Health and Social Care Board, they are our main funder and we are so grateful for their support -- but it isn’t enough.
“We are also mindful that if we were able to get more counsellors today, there would be more people coming through our door too.
“There have been so many funding cuts over the years. You would think, given the prevalence of sexual violence in our society today, and the fact that it is being given such a high profile now, that the resources and funding would reflect that. But it’s not the case.
“All we can do is keep our profile up.”
Local elected representatives, including Fermanagh and Omagh District Council chairman, Stephen McCann, signed the Nexus NI pledge, to stand with anyone who has suffered at the hands of sexual violence.
Helena says high profile cases of sexual violence in the last year has encouraged more and more people to speak out about their own experiences.
“People not willing to remain silent any more. For so long there was a lot of stigma surrounding it, don’t get me wrong, there still is, but more and more people are prepared to speak out now, and that is down to agencies like ourselves.
“It is all helping to break down the silence that surrounds it.”
She says there are positives and negatives to the ‘Mee Too’ online campaign. “In fairness, it has done a lot in terms of communication and breaking the silence.
“If people want to join a social media campaign like that, if it empowers them, if they can put their name to a hashtag and have their voice be heard, then I have no problem with that. I don’t know the ins and outs of this campaign, but if encourages people to say ‘me too; and put their head above the parapet when they would never have considered it before, then I think that is a good thing.”
Enniskillen’s Nexus NI office has three counsellors, working three days a week. Anyone wishing to contact them for further information can do so by calling 028 6632 0046 or emailing: Enniskillen@nexusni.org.