Wollongong fights cuts in incest services
By Sarah Harris
WOLLONGONG — Two hundred people gathered in the Town Hall on May 13 to demand an increase in incest services for Wollongong and the Illawarra region.
The public meeting was called by the Women and Children Incest Support House (WISH). A panel of three speakers outlined the crisis faced by services for sexual assault survivors, especially incest survivors, as a result of government cutbacks. The meeting also heard moving accounts from incest survivors and their supporters.
Jane Uebergang, a community worker at the Women's Centre, told the meeting that the demand for services had been increasing because adults were gaining more confidence in coming forward.
The services required for incest survivors need to be able to cope with related problems such as drug abuse, mental illness and domestic violence. At present the Illawarra Area Health Service (IAHS) provides only one and a half social workers for every 100,000 people in the region. This is to cover all sexual assault counselling, with incest counselling being low in priority. WISH, as well as struggling with large waiting lists, is facing funding cuts.
John Stewart, an incest survivor, reminded people that male children also suffer from incest. The current statistics are that one in six men and boys are incest survivors. Stewart had to travel to Sydney to find a men's incest support group.
Wendy Phillips, a sexual assault counsellor at WISH, told the meeting that the reduction of IAHS services was now too obvious to ignore. Services for adults are limited to those who have been sexually assaulted in the last 12 months. Counselling is limited to six months. The IAHS sexual assault service refers adult incest survivors to overloaded services like WISH or other IAHS services.
The meeting unanimously called for two more full-time workers for the IAHS service and WISH. The chief executive officer of IAHS, who was present at the meeting, was forced to give some promise of increased incest services.
A lobbying committee was formed at the meeting to push for increased sexual assault and incest services in the region. People interested in joining the committee can contact Wendy Phillips at WISH on 26 6441.