Useful Links

The following are some useful links to support services , if you would like to be included on the list please contact us thekavanaghsisters@gmail.com and we’ll update the list including your details.

Survivors Side by Side is a Facebook Page for victims of sexual abuse, their friends, family and those that support them. The page is designed to provide a safe space to share your experiences with others that will understand exactly what you are experiencing and help to let you know that you are not alone.

Its members provide support, advice and comfort to those who find themselves on their journey of healing. Members are at different stages of healing and best placed to understand the questions and answers you seek.

This is a private group and only those invited onto the page by the founder Shaneda Daly, a survivor of child sexual abuse, and an advocate for the rights of victims to appropriate services and supports throughout the country.

I Believe Her is a Facebook Page with that provides a place where survivors of sexual violence can share their experiences publicly whilst remaining strictly anonymous.

Due to the intimate nature of events, the fear of not being believed, the guilt and shame that society makes survivors feel, and the trauma of the rape itself, many survivors feel that that they cannot come forward. Approximately 65% of those that present to a Rape Crisis Centre will go on to report their experience to the Gardai or other formal body. Fewer go on to trial and fewer still result in a conviction.

As a result, it’s easy for us as a country to ignore that 1 in 5 adult women will experience sexual violence and 1 in 10 adult men. We don’t hear about it, we don’t see rapists being convicted by the courts. We can pretend it is a rare event.

We want to offer an outlet for survivors to tell their personal stories. We hope that this will raise awareness in the public consciousness and ultimately help to effect change in how we view rape, removing stigma, changing how we report sexual violence in the media and ensuring that complainants are treated compassionately and with adequate representation at trial.

@ibelieveherireland