A telephone counseling service, which offers support to any adult who has experienced abuse, trauma or neglect in childhood, answered over 2,500 calls in the first six months of this year, new figures have shown.

Connect was established in 2006 and between January and June of this year, it answered 2,565 calls. However, it was unable to answer 360 calls that were made during opening hours because of ‘resource pressure'.

Some 63% of callers to the service said that they were emotionally abused during childhood, while 54% said they were sexually abused. A further 31% said they were physically abused, while 17% said they were neglected.

Meanwhile, 60% of callers said that their abusive experiences took place at home. Among these, 13% said they were abused by their father, 9% by their mother and 5% by a brother. Some 14% said multiple abusers were involved.

Almost one in four (24%) callers said they were abused in an institutional setting. Among those who revealed who their abuser was, 25% referred to clerical abuse, while 17% referred to abuse within a convent setting.

Almost one in three (31%) callers made repeat calls for support, with an average of up to four calls.

The service noted that 5% of callers said they had never before spoken about their abuse before.

It also noted that 64% of callers were women, 34% were men and 2% were transgender. Meanwhile, 46% of callers were aged between 31 and 50 years, and 36% were over the age of 50.

Commenting on the types of calls received, Connect service manager, Theresa Merrigan, noted that many callers did not consider neglect as a form of abuse.

"Our psychotherapists are often surprised to hear callers speak of deprivation and neglect in childhood in a minimising way. It is as if it has not occurred to them that childhood neglect is an abusive experience," she commented.

She noted that many callers are affected by depression, sadness, anger and low self-esteem.

"Many present with addiction issues, relationship problems, parenting issues and feelings of helplessness, confusion and hopelessness. Some callers have longstanding mental issues with long histories of psychiatric care," she said.

She pointed out that Connect offers support to people who are on waiting lists for face-to-face counselling with the National Counselling Service (NCS). The NCS is a professional, confidential counselling and psychotherapy service available free of charge in all regions of the country. It is provided by the HSE.

Ms Merrigan also reminded people that Connect offers support to the family members of childhood abuse survivors. In the first six months of this year, 15% of callers were family members.

Connect is a freephone service available nationwide. Callers generally hear about it from a number of different sources, including the Samaritans, the NCS, the media, GPs and other support services such as Aware.

The service is open from 6pm to 10pm from Wednesday to Sunday. Call 1800 477 477 in the Republic and 00800 477 477 77 from Northern Ireland and the UK.

For more information on Connect, click here