Cornwall Standard Freeholder

06 February 2010

Posted By LUKE HENDRY, QMI AGENCY  

The Ontario government has provided a major endorsement for a local agency after committing funding for two retreats for sexual abuse victims involved in the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

Kim Charlebois, executive director of the Sexual Assault Centre for Quinte and District, said the centre has received confirmation Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General will fund one retreat for male victims and another for female victims who were involved in the inquiry.

Inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude had recommended the province hire the centre to provide its week-long Quinte Residential Treatment Program to abuse survivors.

"That speaks to the fact they think our program is a good pro-g ra m," Charlebois said. "We were really, really pleased because we know that, but to have it recognized beyond us is really important."

Glaude's recommendation and the provincial funding show others recognize the need for the program. That could lead to its eventual expansion, of which the centre's staff and directors have long dreamed.

"We've seen how it changes people's lives," said Charlebois.

"If our program is as successful with the people from Cornwall ... I hope that will speak volumes of the program, perhaps in terms of future funding. That's what we really need. We need to have the ongoing program dollars.

"We have a lot of people in this community that could really benefit from that program, as could many people in this province. Our goal eventually would be ... to open it up to the province, to all survivors."

The provincially-funded sessions will be limited to Cornwall Inquiry victims. Charlebois said four years of counselling for that group ended Jan. 15.

The wilderness retreats will be part of a three-agency program called Next Steps to Healing. The centre will work in concert with Cornwall's Family Counselling Centre and the Sexual Assault Support Services for Women of Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry and Akwesasne.

Clients will attend the week-long sessions midway through a program that's expected to last several months.

The centre normally holds its retreats in the Bancroft area, but it's not known where those for the Cornwall survivors will be held. Charlebois said they are scheduled to occur by July 15.

It's also not known if the province will meet Glaude's suggestion that four retreats be funded by June 2014. He had recommended at least two sessions for men be held.

The cost for four retreats was estimated at a total of $95,000.

Each involves psychotherapy, group discussions and outdoor physical challenges.

Funding for more sessions has never matched demand.

The centre is trying to raise funds to establish a permanent building in North Hastings where it could hold regular retreats, but even then, said Charlebois, there would need to be funding to cover regular operating costs.

She quoted statistics that one in five men will be assaulted sexually during his lifetime, as will at least one in three women.

Charlebois said that means sexual abuse is an "epidemic."

It causes many more problems and costs because survivors suffer problems with education, relationships and work, she said.

Article ID# 2437924

 Retreats. retreats *lol* isn't that how it began

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By itinerant

wheels just keep on spinnen lol...

..

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By nonbeliever

Is this a joke to you two clowns is that all this was all about you damn idiots this is sure not a joke to the victims.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By dodger

freakin morons believe you are funny

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #4 By dodger

dodger you have to be one of the oddest people posting in here. Do you have any clue what sarcasm is.

The only thing funny is how simple minded you are.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #5 By itinerant

Sarcasm involves a sense of sanity my friend and I believe you have lost yours. You my friend make fun of things that you do not even understand for instance the pain of others that have suffered at the hands of their feloow man although they are sick people that have made them suffer.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #6 By dodger

Sarcasm is also a form of joking and making fun of other peoples problems do you think it is funny what has gone on for many of the victims of the stuff that has gone on in this town.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #7 By dodger

Sarcasm is the rhetorical device of using a characterization of something or someone in order to express contempt.[1] It is closely connected with irony, in that the two are often combined in the same statement.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #8 By dodger

Sorry but I do not think for one instance that what has gone on in this town and the crimes against the victims in this town are a joke nor are they subject to ridicule by anyone. Sarcasm about this stuff is extreme ridicule of the victims.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #9 By dodger

I am not odd my friend you are the odd one that has no empathy for your fellow man that has suffered a great injustice.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #10 By dodger

I agree with you dodger there are many many injustices and atrocities done by fellow men to other men . I have a very hard time believing there are people out there that supported and continue to support such activities . Tho some people may not be supporting the abuses or despise it , it would help if they spoke up against it ..

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #11 By vikingkinqs

Dodger look at how you post, it takes you five attempts to make your point. If anyone shows the inability to understand and or focus it is you.

The sarcasm is directed on this so called cure, a retreat? h\How many went to some of those so called retreats in St Raphael’s, or St Andrews. Is it not ironic that the system would now expect these people to trust a similar scenario to be cured?

Dodger you have continually proven that all you seek is sympathy, perhaps you are a victim, but that was once by others and now you live as a victim by your own choice.

"Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality"

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #12 By itinerant

Just checked the temperatur in hell. -31 degrees, and it appears itinerant and I agree.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #13 By bobgeneric

Actually i know a few of the victims of the inquiry and i do not think paying some shrinks for a retreat will fix anything.

What they needed was damamges paid to them so they would feel compensated for the abuse they went through. It would have given them validation of what happened to them and punsihed the offenders.

But here we go again rewarding those that are not entitled and victimising the victim all over again.

What a shame!!

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #14 By wakeupcall

itinerant when I said (I am not odd my friend you are the odd one that has no empathy for your fellow man that has suffered a great injustice.) I was not speaking of my self. I was implying the injustice of the victims in this case. And I do not have any self pity as you would like to believe but I will always speak out when I see a self promoting blowhard like yourself laugh at any victims plight. I think you just make comments to make yourself feel better.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #15 By dodger

The Let Go...Let Peace Come In Foundation is a newly formed nonprofit with a mission to help heal and support adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse worldwide. We are actively seeking adult survivors who would be willing to post a childhood photo and caption, their story, or their creative expressions to our website www.letgoletpeacecomein.org. By uniting survivors from across the globe we can help provide a stronger and more powerful voice to those survivors who have not yet found the courage to speak out. Together we can; together we should; together we NEED to stand up and be counted. Please visit our site for more details on how you can send us your submissions.

Thank you for everything you do!

Gretchen Paules

Administrative Director

Let Go...Let Peace Come In Foundation

111 Presidential Blvd., Suite 212

Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #16 By letgolet

 wakeupcall, how will paying the victims change what has happened?

Maybe if they could choose the justice to be done to the abusers would help a little more. Call it retaliatory justice.

The bible even states do unto others!

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #17 By itinerant,