A telephone counselling service for adults who were abused or neglected during childhood is expecting to record an increase in calls by the end of this year, when compared to last year.

Connect Counselling is a free telephone counselling and support service for any adult who has experienced abuse, neglect or trauma as a child.

Despite only being open for 20 hours per week, the service is projecting that by the end of this year, it will have received 8,078 calls, a 4% increase on 2015's figure of 7,798.

Among these calls, over half will be answered, more than 3,000 will be received out of hours and over 700 will be lost. The out-of-hour callers will be directed to call back within opening hours.

According to Connect manager, Theresa Merrigan, this is a ‘necessary and niche service that meets the needs of people who choose anonymous telephone-based counselling as a first step towards face-to-face therapy, or as a preferred longer term approach'.

Connect was establised in 2006 at the request of abuse survivor groups. It is funded by the HSE and it works with the HSE National Counselling Service, which is a daytime face-to-face counselling service.

An analysis of the 2016 statistics shows that during the year, around two-thirds of callers to the service were female, which is similar to past years. However, Ms Merrigan emphasised that this figure does not reflect gender balance. She called on more men to use the service, particularly those in rural areas.

The statistics also found that in 2016, there was an increase in younger callers and a decrease in older callers. Meanwhile, the most common setting for abuse was reported to be in the family (48%), followed by the community (34%) and institutional (18%).

"There is an over-emphasised public perception of institutional abuse, compared to in family and community settings, where our service records in excess of 80% of cases. Connect is available for people who have experienced abuse in any setting, not just in institutions," Ms Merrigan explained.

Connect is open Monday to Friday from 6pm to 10pm, with additional hours during times of high service demand, such as Christmas.

Calls are free of charge. From the Republic, call 1800 477 477. From Northern Ireland, call 00800 477 477 77. For more information, click here