Andy Jeffery shares his personal experience of child sex abuse in a new report and film, Numbing The Pain, produced by One in Four - a specialist charity supporting people who have experienced child sexual abuse and trauma.

Evidence shows as many as one in four adults have experienced some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Based around personal accounts written by Andy Jeffery who is a recovering alcoholic, and other survivors’, Numbing the Pain: Survivors’ voices of childhood sexual abuse and addiction, highlights sexual abuse as an underlying trauma for many people who experience substance abuse addiction.

The report and analysis by leading expert Christiane Sanderson, illustrates how the trauma of childhood sexual abuse can affect:

  • survivors’ emotions

  • their ability to relate to others

  • how drugs and alcohol can be used to numb the pain of childhood abuse.  

 
 

Message from Andy...


I am proud to have participated in the groundbreaking report and film called Numbing The Pain: Survivors’ voices of childhood sexual abuse and addiction, produced by the charity One in Four.

One In Four support survivors to work through the trauma of abuse, helping them to transform and rebuild their lives.

They’re a specialist charity with a dedicated team of experts and counsellors with many years of knowledge, experience and expertise in working with survivors of sexual abuse and violence, and particularly child sexual abuse.

You can also find a comprehensive list of people and organisations who help and support survivors of child sexual abuse on my resource page.

You're not alone,

Andy

PS. For more information about the full 21-minute version of the Numbing The Pain film please email the team at One In Four.


 
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
— Reinhold Niebuhr
 

Calling all addiction services

One in Four is calling for addiction services to make the link between childhood sexual abuse as an underlying trauma in addiction and to consider how they are supporting and signposting survivors to appropriate support, once recovered from their addiction.

The Charity is also calling on services to anonymously record disclosures of childhood sexual abuse for collation.

For more information, please email the team at One In Four.