York Region’s program for victims of child sexual abuse a “life-saving” institution

The York Region Abuse Program hosts its Hand in Hand Gala on May 3. It will feature a monument to abuse survivors the province has declined to display at Queen’s Park

Thestar.com
April 4, 2013
By Kim Nursall

When children start treatment at the York Region Abuse Program, they get to choose their very own stuffed bear.

The 30-centimetre-tall knitted toys are called “bravery bears,” and each one is unique. The child’s chosen bear will stay with him or her throughout the Newmarket-based program, which treats victims of child sexual abuse.

“Letting go of the hand of a caregiver and grabbing the hand of a therapist and toddling down the hall into a room can be overwhelming,” Alison Peck, YRAP’s executive director, says while sitting in a black leather chair in the centre’s dimly lit library.

“I call it ‘bearing witness,’ ” she says softly, looking down at the two bears she holds in her hands.

YRAP opened its doors 25 years ago and, although still a tiny organization, it has become a cornerstone of York Region’s social programs, providing free services to those who face a potentially debilitating setback so early in life.

As many as one in three girls and one in four boys suffer child and sexual abuse before they turn 18, although an exact figure is hard to nail down because of low rates of reporting. Peck says victims may consequently suffer eating disorders, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress, homelessness and suicidal ideation “to end the pain.”

“It’s shocking to look at a school photograph and think ‘one in three, one in four,’ or go to the mall - one in three, one in four - or you see a group of kids running in the park - one in three, one in four,” Peck says.

“It’s something I have to keep in mind when I go speak to people,” she continues. “I’m sitting in a boardroom potentially with 20 to 30 corporate executives who were all children at one point in time, too. We have to get beyond looking just at this issue as a childhood issue, and think about the impact that this has, potentially, lifelong for people and their families.”

YRAP offers two streams: one for children and youth under 18, as well as their supportive caregivers; and one for adults.

Peck says YRAP’s 10-person staff alongside a handful of practicum students and professionals offering in-kind services help upwards of 100 people a year, with treatment time averaging about 12 months.

“Programming is very intensive trauma-focused work,” says Peck. “You’re doing actual processing of the traumatic event while making sure people are safe and secure . . . and then work on reintegration into society.

“A number of our youth and adult clients will literally talk about the organization as life-saving, and they don’t mean that in a soft way. They mean that ‘if I wasn’t here, doing the work I’ve done with you, I wouldn’t be living.’ ”

For young children, treatment is largely play- and art-based, and a couple of rooms at YRAP are filled to the brim with toys and craft materials.

“You can sort of tell by looking down the line of puppets here, we have the happier friendlier ones, and the not-so-happy scarier ones,” says Peck, pointing to the stuffed wolves, seals and other characters that line one of the room’s pastel-blue walls.

“You can help kids identify the different characters in their lives and construct a narrative,” she says.

YRAP is supported through provincial funding and partner organizations like the United Way. Peck says they also must raise $100,000 to $150,000 each year.

One of YRAP’s cornerstone fundraising events, the annual Hand in Hand Gala, is on May 3 and will feature a massive monument to child abuse survivors. The monument is composed of two bronze quiltlike structures, with about 300 squares featuring casts of hands and messages of hope from abuse survivors and their loved ones.

It will be brought to the gala on a flatbed truck.

Peck had written to the provincial government asking to install the monument at Queen’s Park after the event. Last month, however, creator Michael Irving was told it would not be installed.

Still, Peck remains hopeful the government will change its mind and help Irving’s work find a home on public property.

Going forward, Peck says YRAP is focused on eliminating its six-month wait list for the child and youth program. Adults no longer need to wait to get in, something Peck says is critical for treatment.

“If you were a referring organization or a supportive caregiver that called us and says, ‘This happened - an investigation has happened - we need your help right now,’ to say to them, ‘Great, we’ll see you in six months’ would be devastating,” she says.

One reason increased capacity is needed, Peck says, is because the Internet had made it easier to abuse and exploit children.

“Individuals who are either pedophiles or who sexually abuse children . . . now have different tools to operate and groom and access children and disperse images.”

Before saying goodbye, Peck points to a wall of handprints on colourful paper that surround the acronym for “you only live once.”

Just as each child receives a bear on starting at YRAP, they are asked to leave a little something behind to be remembered by.

“Because we can’t have names and we can’t have photographs or anything else, we ask each child as they leave us to leave us with a handprint,” she says. “Every time we see them, we’re reminded of the important work that we’re doing.”