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Planned Support
Support tailored to your needs
SAMSN’s Planned Support is based on the needs identified by male survivors and draws from the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We use a survivor-led collaborative approach in our aim to achieve a wrap-around support for all survivors we work with.
This involves partnering or walking alongside survivors and their families to provide practical support in dealing with agencies such as:
- Centrelink
- Housing
- Victims Services
- National Redress Scheme
- Police
- Counselling Services
- and the legal system.
SAMSN employs practitioners with specialist skills, who may also be survivors, as well as those with lived experience to provide this service. SAMSN workers can accompany survivors to:
- interviews
- set up appointments
- make calls on behalf of survivors
- advocate for access to services
- assist with navigating government systems
- and finding ways to resolve difficulties
- as well as referrals to other agencies.
SAMSN also has specialist trauma-informed male and female counsellors who can provide short term counselling and assist survivors and their supporters to access longer term counselling if needed. This service can be provided either in-person, over Zoom, or over the phone.
Common reasons for contacting SAMSN
Need to talk
Talk with a mate who can relate
Trouble in relationships
Professional support and counselling for survivors, family and supporters
Feeling isolated
Connection with other survivors
Need help dealing with impact like flashbacks
Help to understand the impacts of abuse and tools to assist recovery
Dealing with feelings of guilt and shame
Help to understand the impacts of abuse and tools to assist recovery
Overwhelmed by debt, work and other life issues
Practical assistance in dealing with housing, victim services and Centrelink
Struggles with drugs, alcohol and gambling
Help to understand the impacts of abuse and tools to assist recovery
Need practical and emotional support
Links to helpful readings and resources
Seeking justice
Help reporting to the police, legal services, seeking national Redress and compensation
I believe that everyone has the ability to choose their own paths and be forces for their own change. Everyone has different stories and views, so it is ok to reach out and reflect with a supportive network to help find your own path and start to make changes for a better life. Taking that first courageous first step is the beginning of the healing process.
David - SAMSN Planned Support
We understand that reaching out for support is not easy. The idea of sharing your story can be frightening but we believe that the impact of sharing your story is profoundly positive. SAMSN exists to offer this space to survivors and supporters. A space to be heard, believed, and to connect. During my time at SAMSN, I have had the privileged opportunity of hearing countless stories of courage and bravery that each and every person who contacts SAMSN holds.
Joey - SAMSN Planned Support
At SAMSN we know that reaching out for support is not easy and takes great strength and courage. It is a privilege to be part of your recovery journey, walking alongside you to support you with what works for you. We want you to know that SAMSN provides a safe space for both survivors and their supporters to feel heard, validated and acknowledged. We will work with you to help you to find ways to manage the impacts that the trauma has had and often continues to have on your life. We will support you to choose how you tell your story, acknowledging that everyone is different and honouring that you are the expert in your own life. Know that you are believed and that you are not alone.
Gill - SAMSN Counsellor
I firmly believe survivors have a right to be heard and to share their story, even if that is just with one person. SAMSN provides me with the opportunity to support survivors, working at their pace, through their recovery journey and to achieve their individual goals. I walk with survivors on their journey of recovery, and I am humbled to be able to support survivors to achieve autonomy, regain control over their lives and to feel empowered.
Holly - SAMSN Planned Support
