Emotional first aid for victims of crime

PICTURE the scene: you come home to find that your house has been ransacked by burglars

PICTURE the scene: you come home to find that your house has been ransacked by burglars. Sickened and confused, you phone the Garda, whose members arrive and take the details. They may or may not be sympathetic; but usually they are in a hurry. What next? The mess to clean up; the losses mourned; the mind's inevitable spiral into vulnerability and apprehension.

But now, increasingly, victims of crime can avail of a visit from Victim Support, the voluntary association that was set up 11 years ago in Ireland with the aim of "giving practical and emotional support to victims in the aftermath of crime", says James Keaveney, national treasurer for Victim Support and co ordinator of its new National Helpline.

"It is a blow to the system," he adds. "Your house has been burgled. You don't know why you were singled out. It can mean a lot to get a visit from Victim Support. Our visitors will offer you a listening ear but they can also help with practical things, like filling out insurance forms.

Post traumatic stress is a common result in people whose trauma as a result of crime has not been "exorcised?" says James Keaveney. Victim Support is preparing for a new Hospital Project whereby victims of serious assault, after their time in hospital, can avail of counselling and legal advice from trained volunteers at the Victim Support premises on Parliament Street in Dublin.

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"At the moment, a victim may end up in hospital and have all his or her medical problems taken care of but, especially if the crime took place late at night, that person might never be seen by a social worker," Mr Keaveney explains. "There is a risk that they will develop post traumatic stress in an extreme way. This can involve a dependency on alcohol or tranquillisers, which in turn leads to problems - work and with family relationships.

"If Victim Support had the opportunity to give emotional first aid to the victim at an early stage, these later complications could be avoided. The Meath Hospital in Dublin has agreed to come on board with a pilot Hospital Project which will start next year. The Eastern Health Board has given us £10,000 from the Lottery. We now need volunteers to take part in the training process.

The general perception is that those most at risk from crime are the elderly but this, says James Keaveney, is not borne out by the figures: "According to Garda figures, although attacks on older people are more vicious than before, they are less numerous. In Ireland - and also in Britain - the average victim is not an elderly person, but a young male aged between 17 and 25. This is the very age group least likely to come to us for help," says James Keaveney. "They have the macho idea that big boys don't cry. We give talks in schools and universities to try to target these young men. It is important to raise awareness in this age group because it also accounts for a percentage of those who perpetrate violent crime.

All the same, elderly people often feel the most vulnerable, particularly if they are living in an isolated area and have mobility problems. Hence Victim Support's other new initiative, the Emergency Response Phoneline, which is now being used by 700 people all over Ireland. The Phoneline is monitored at all times by trained operators who know what to do and whom to alert should a crisis of any kind occur; they are also primed with any important medical details. A non invasive monitoring system can be operated to make regular checks that all is well in the home of the elderly person.

The Phoneline costs £250 to install, and the monitoring fee is £47 per year. Grants were available earlier in the year to cover up to 90 per cent of the installation fee, but the grant money has all been used for this year.

House burglary is the most common scenario suffered by those who call on Victim Support. Some 85 per cent of calls are from people in need of "emotional and psychological reassurance". Only 1.7 per cent of the remaining 15 per cent of calls are from people who require police assistance. The average number of visits made by Victim Support is two or three, depending on the needs of the individual.

In the case of crimes which end up in court, including murder and rape, Victim Support will send someone along to "be a friend in court" to the victim. This does not involve telling the victim how to give evidence, stresses James Keaveney, but it does include an introduction to an environment that can at first seem alien and threatening: "A lot of people say that their experience of the criminal justice system is almost as bad as their experience of the crime itself."