History of Survivors Anon (IOM)

We are an Isle of Man based support group that provides fellowship and resources to help male survivors of physical, sexual, and/or childhood abuse begin or continue their recovery.

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Our aim is to offer support and help survivors heal from their traumatic experiences. We understand the difficulties of dealing with such trauma and we believe that no one should have to go through it alone. We provide a supportive community where survivors can share their stories and connect with others who have gone through similar experiences. Our group is run by survivors, for survivors, and we are here to help you on your healing journey.

 

Our group was started by Robb, who is a survivor of both sexual & physical childhood abuse.  He suffered abuse at the hands of a family member from the ages of 6.5 years up to the age of 11.5 years old. His father left the family group around the time he was 7 years old. and his mother struggled to bring up Robb and his brothers in Ireland. The result of his father leaving and his mum struggling to live, meant that she turned to alcohol to cope with those times. Robb being the youngest of three, was sent to live with his mum's brother (His Uncle) and his wife. In his mum's eyes it must have seemed like the perfect solution.

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Not long after he moved in with his Uncle and his wife the abuse began and continued for about six months and then his uncle introduced some of his friends, who also began to abuse Robb sexually & physically. This abuse lasted for several years, during this time also his mother became ill with terminal cancer.

 

One day, he managed to escape his Uncles house to go see his mother at their family home, but when he arrived there he discovered the house empty and whilst he was sitting on the stairs, wondering what to do next...when a knock came to the door and initially he assumed it was his Uncle coming searching for him, but quickly found that it was actually a priest from his mum's parish. 

 

The priest spoke with him and discovered what Robb had gone though and with the help of a church official, Robb was taken to a place of safety and finally the abuse was abruptly ended, but nobody was ever prosecuted as "Who would have believed, such a thing could ever happen!" at least that was the attitude in Ireland back then.

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Rob, now lives on the Isle of Man with his wife. he has always suffered in silence for the best part of 50 years and until Covid hit the Island, he managed to hide it well up till that point, but the isolation kicked in and he had a major health crisis. This facilitated a health intervention and he is under Manx Care, who have been hugely helpful to his recovery.

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Now on the road to recovery, Rob has wanted to give back to his community and in particular any other men or boys Islandwide who have or are being abused. He has recently launched a peer led group call 

 

"The group is for their benefit and the aims are simple...HELP where we can and REFER to professionals where we can't".