With a project that gives sexual abuse survivors the chance to be heard coming to Cornwall on Monday, Caroline Chick speaks to a mum about her experiences.

THE woman sitting opposite me is elegantly dressed, confident and brimming with excitement about plans for the weekend. She sips a cup of tea, takes a quiet but deep breath.

She then tells me how she was robbed of her childhood before it had barely begun.

Unflinching, she continues that a man, considered to be a family friend, groomed her with fizzy drinks, performed oral sex and raped her in his loft.

The mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons but has asked to be called Rebecca, is now in her thirties, still lives in Cornwall, and is an advocate for other sexual abuse survivors.

“I become a third person to cope with talking about it openly. I speak about it because if I can be an advocate for survivors, if I can help just one person pick up the phone and seek help, for them to know that they are not alone, then this horrible, horrible experience will not have been in vain.”

Rebecca says she is speaking out now because on Monday (November 19) a project that gives survivors a chance to be heard in a confidential and supportive setting, and for organisations to learn and hear what is needed for survivors to heal and to stop child sexual abuse happening, comes to Cornwall.

The Truth Project is part of the government’s Independent Inquiry in to Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which was set up in 2015 to investigate organisations and institutions that have failed to protect children from sexual abuse.

Rebecca explained that the Truth Project’s work is so important and that last year she travelled out of Cornwall to share her story.

“What we tell the Truth Project will help future generations and break the cycle of abuse”, she added.

Her words are echoed by NHS Kernow and Julieann Carter, the organisation’s interim head of nursing.

She said: “The purpose of the Truth Project is to reach as many people as possible so that they know what important work is going on with the inquiry, and if they are a victim or survivor of historic childhood sexual abuse in public institutions to share their experiences.

“We ask all health care workers from GPs to district nurses to help us support the Truth Project and ultimately to help the inquiry expose past failures and to help make children safer in the future.”

Rebecca finally went to the police in 2016 after decades of keeping her ordeal buried when she heard an advert asking people to come forward to report historic crimes.

Her bravery led to Michael Bennett, then 68 and of Fore Street, Tywardreath, being convicted and jailed for 21 years for the sexual abuse of Rebecca and another woman when they were young children.

She said: “He threatened me that if I ever told anyone I would end up in jail and that I would be taken away from my mum, so I stayed quiet for years. I thought who is going to believe a child over an adult?

“I was so young when it started. He portrayed himself as a friendly, neighbourly man. It started with him inviting me into the garden to play with his puppies and I didn’t question his motives.”

She said, while she knew what had been done to her was wrong, she added: “How, as a child, do you comprehend what has taken place or say ’I’ve been raped’? How do you described what has happened to you?

“I remember seeing him out shopping when I was with a member of my family some years later and it felt like l was facing the devil.

“Giving my story to the police felt like a weight had been lifted. It wasn’t my problem anymore or I wasn’t alone with it and it was for them to deal with. For them I was the missing piece of the jigsaw they had been looking for.”

Rebecca explained she had fantastic support from the sexual offence liaison officer, support workers form the sexual assault referral centre the Willow Centre in Truro and her family.

“I can’t thank the people and organisations, especially the Willow Centre, who supported me, enough. I don’t think I would have got through it or got to court without the support worker.

“He stole my childhood, I’ve now taken his retirement away and he can live his sentence out as I did as a child – a prisoner and afraid.

“I don’t want to be defined by his action. I want people to know that if they tell someone they will be listened to, they will be supported and it’s not ‘if these monsters get caught, it’s when they get caught’.”

Rebecca believes a teaching assistant at her school and a doctor could have helped her come forward sooner if they’d recognised the signs.

“If the teaching assistant hadn’t reprimanded me and sent me off for touching boys inappropriately in the playground and the doctor hadn’t called me a liar when I kept being off school sick, things might have been different.

“This is why it’s important to share our stories with the Truth Project. Professionals from the Truth Project will support you and it’s a really short interview in an unmarked building, no one will know why you are there.”

A counsellor will ring after the interview to check how it went and if you need further support.

People can also share their stories with the Truth Project by letter, email or call the Truth project’s head office.

Rebecca said: “We need to empower young people with the knowledge and the skills to protect themselves but do it in a way that’s tailored to their level.

“What you tell the Truth Project is completely anonymous and by coming forward you could stop more children being abused right now and in the future. You might give someone else the strength to come forward.

“But if we don’t speak up, how will things ever change for the better?

Visit the Truth Project at www.truthproject.org.uk/i-will-be-heard