The diocese of London has extended and doubled its funding to get help for male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. And counsellors are urging men to keep coming forward for help.
The diocese is providing $60,000 this year - up from $30,000 last year - to fund the Silence to Hope project that provides sexual abuse support groups for men at no cost and provides a referral service.
"This is a great thing for the men of Southwestern Ontario," said Tom Wilken of Hope and Healing Associates, which is co-ordinating the project.
"With this funding, we'll now be able to have a year-round program for men and, hopefully, this will encourage the provincial and federal governments to step forward with some funding to include men in the circle of compassion."
The Roman Catholic diocese set up the program in response to several cases of abuse by priests, especially the abuse inflicted by a defrocked priest, the late Charles Sylvestre, who was convicted and jailed for abusing 47 women over a 30-year-old period across the region.
The church and province funded a program for women survivors of priest abuse.
A diocese spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
The project is aimed at helping male victims in London, Windsor, Chatham-Kent and points in between.
It's estimated there could be more than 15,000 male victims in the London region alone.
Wilken said it's frustrating the province hasn't provided funding for male victims of childhood sex abuse.
"Even though the government is aware that statistics clearly indicate 37 per cent of all sexual abuse victims under the age of 21 are male, they continually refuse pleas for help," he said.
"Many agencies become frustrated when they cannot find services for male victims, and in many cases, there are none."
The Silence to Hope project is working with Thames Valley Family Services, the United Way of London, the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness and the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence.
The male survivors are offered free group therapy sessions for 12 weeks. The next group starts in March.
Experts say most men suffer in silence rather step forward, often out of shame but also because there are no services.
The impact on male victims of childhood sexual abuse is not unlike that of women, including depression, anxiety, self-blame, shame, inability to trust, addictions, self-destructive behaviour, confusion about sexual identity, stress-related illnesses and suicide.
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