The role of the Victim Support Person is to offer comfort and compassion on behalf of the Church, to provide direction to the victim where to go for professional help or assistance and to help arrange appropriate support.
The Support Person assists a victim by facilitating access to information, representing his/her concerns on an ongoing basis and identifying any therapeutic needs.
Where professional counselling is needed, this is not be provided by the Support Person directly but is provided through normal professional channels. The role of the Support Person may extend to offer support to the family of the victim.
The duties of the Support Person are:
- To approach known victims of sexual abuse, offering the service
- To identify strategies that will encourage unknown (to the Church) victims who wish to come forward for support
- To offer support and a ‘listening ear’ to victims and to their families
- To liaise between victims, their families and Church officials
- To attend Court hearings or other meetings where a supportive presence would be useful
- To inform the Church of the needs, fears, expectations, etc. of the service users while at the same time maintaining confidentiality