The one thing I wish more people said to me
Participant 1: There are a lot of different responses to trauma.
Participant 2: The one thing I wish more people would have said to me is, "you don't even need to answer me- I'm just going to sit here with you" because a lot of the time, I didnt have words, and people would say
'"oh, I'll leave you alone then," and I wanted to scream, "No! Don't!" but people didn't want to get sucked into it. Space was the last thing I needed because I became suicidal. We need to remember that sometimes you don't have to worry about the words; just exist with the person and eat your feelings if you need to.
Recommendations
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Use approaches that are trauma informed and survivor-centred.
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Ensure all sexual violence prevention and response education and training opportunities actively deconstruct victim-blaming, rape myths and gender norms. Ensure these sessions take an intersectional approach to understanding sexual violence and supporting victim/survivors.