To all our wonderful 11,645 petitioners, you can help secure our meeting with The Hon Martin Foley, by continuing to share our petition. Yours, and every signature, really matters.

Grace Tame on 20 Feb 2022 "if we want to have an OPEN and HONEST discussion about child sexual abuse in this country, we must also have an open and honest discussion about trauma and what that can look like."

We want to have an open and honest discussion with The Hon. Martin Foley, why historical, systemic institutional child sexual abuse in the Beaumaris community, and surrounding communities, requires integrated services and supports. Not the current fragmentation of services and options across multiple service providers. We know that for survivors treating associated mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and addiction alone, won’t help the person recover.

"Nearly 3 in 4 Australians will experience some form of potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, but only about 4.5% go on to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  In Australia, it is estimated that 1 in 3 adults exposed to childhood trauma developed a drug or alcohol problem later in life.

When we consider people in addiction treatment, rates of PTSD are as high as 50-60%. When someone reduces or stops using, the symptoms of PTSD can re-emerge, leaving the individual without any means to cope. The two problems perpetuate and maintain each other in a vicious cycle that can be difficult to short-circuit. This is why it is so important to identify when trauma co-occurs with addiction, because treating the addiction alone won’t help the person recover.

We know that treating trauma and addiction is safe and effective. There is a commonly held assumption that talking about trauma makes addiction worse. This is a myth. The type, level and intensity of psychological treatment can vary depending on where someone is at, their readiness to stabilise their substance use and to engage in therapy. Trauma-focused and non-trauma focused integrated psychotherapies- have been researched for over a decade in Australia and internationally, and demonstrate that recovery, from both trauma and addiction, is a possibility for everybody."

https://www.turningpoint.org.au/about-us/news/trauma-and-addiction

We are so blessed to have so many fellow petitioners standing with us, thank you.