Colchester Sexual Assault Centre now in its 27th year

Recognized anniversary earlier this month on International Women’s Day

TRURO - Call it an appropriate coincidence that the Colchester Sexual Assault Centre (CSAC) celebrated its 27th anniversary as an independent community-based non-profit organization on International Women’s Day earlier this month.

“It’s certainly a great coincidence that we’re able to capitalize on International Women’s Day as women do make up the vast majority of the clients we serve (84 per cent) and those who are impacted by sexual violence,” said executive director Jamie Matthews.

Matthews said the centre was founded by Sherry O’brien in 1992 and operated out of the former YMCA in Truro.

“Five years later, in 1996, we became independent,” he said. “So we certainly have to give a shout-out to those early folks who did all that upfront work to get us to where we are now.”

Now, the non-profit, community-based organization, dedicated to strengthening, empowering and supporting those impacted by sexual violence, provides services to individuals in Colchester, Cumberland and East Hants counties. Those services include one-on-one counselling and emotional support to their support network, group counselling, education and prevention presentations, and community-based advocacy and awareness initiatives.

“We have a team of three registered counselling therapists who have different specialties and enable us to support all women and men, both youth and adult, and we also have experience in supporting those in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community,” Matthews said. “Because of the great talents and specialities of our staff, we are able to support anybody in our communities who are impacted by sexual violence.”

In a release regarding the anniversary and International Women’s Day, Matthews talked about the significance of the day which is recognized annually on March 8.

“We should pause and reflect on the epidemic of sexual violence and that one in three women and girls will encounter it throughout their lives,” he stated. “We should also take this opportunity to celebrate their strength and resilience, and that the Colchester Sexual Assault Centre will continue to support them along their healing journey. Sexual violence is not only a women’s issue, it is a societal one, and we all must play an active role in prevention and awareness.”

Also from the release, it’s noted since COVID began, the CSAC is seeing an influx of past historical traumas surfacing. Matthews talked more about that in conversation with the Saltwire Network.

“At the height of the pandemic, call volumes had quadrupled into our community resource centre for those seeking support options for sexual violence,” he said.

“There were a number of contributing factors; we did see an influx of new cases of sexual violence but we also saw a lot of historical cases coming to light. We attributed that to the secondary implications and factors that came about during the pandemic - when people are locked away at home, they lose a lot of the informal support they would normally get from their friends and family.

“We also saw a lot of people who are in unhealthy relationships and when you’re stuck at home and can’t get the resources, the support and the socialization that you need, it was certainly heightening those implications of those unhealthy relationships people were in.”

Each year, CSAC provides more than 1,300 hours of free counselling services and educates hundreds of youths in the school system through prevention initiatives.

Matthews said they’re funded annually by the Department of Community Services and on self-generated revenues they are able to procure.

“So each year it’s a little different but every year we also do an annual fundraising campaign which is our lottery, so that is the way those in the community can support us as well by participating in our fundraising initiatives,” he said.

“We encourage everyone to look for us on social media or visit colchestersac. ca where they can request an appointment with one of our counsellors confidentially and privately through the website, or they certainly can give us a call as well at 902-897-4366.”