History

The Sexual Abuse Survivors Trust was instigated by the energies, passion and vision of Heather Smyth in 1991 and registered as a Charitable Trust in January 1992. Heather had seen that there was a lack of services for the sexually abused and their families in the community.

The aim of the Trust has always been to meet the needs of the sexually abused.

By February 1992 the Trust had established two programmes towards meeting the aforementioned goals: an adult survivors’ support group and an information pack for mothers or caregivers when their child disclosed abuse. In June 1992 funding was gained to set up an office in Liverpool Street in central Christchurch. From these premises programmes were developed and voluntary workers employed. In the latter half of 1992, the Mothers Support Group, for mothers of sexually abused children, an Art Therapy Course and a two day education seminar were developed. The education seminar was presented on twenty five occasions in different cities around New Zealand between 1992 and 1996.

In 1994. SAFECARE was established. SAFECARE is a 24/7 crisis callout service which supports acute rape and sexual assault victims. This service works in conjunction with the Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care (DSAC) and the Police. Our SAFECARE service is unique to Christchurch and we have established a service in Ashburton, again staffed by volunteers, under the co-ordination of our Christchurch SAFECARE Co-ordinator.

As a result of this service, and as an added resource for victims and families, The Monarch Centre produced “STANDING STRONG – the court process explained” a video (now CD as well) which outlines the court process for both recent cases and for historic cases of sexual assault/rape. These are distributed used widely throughout the country.

1995 another full time worker joined the staff to implement the CAP (Child Abuse Prevention) project. She had previously worked in a voluntary capacity to prepare for the implementation of this project. The Trust received funding to pilot the project in Christchurch Primary Schools. The CAP project originated in America and operated in nine different countries around the world. It encourages children to know they have the right to be Safe, Strong and free...

1996 saw the groups and services of the Trust continuing to grow. An Advocacy Service was developed. This not only supported women and men in charging their abuser with a criminal offence but confronting the abuser and encouraging them to seek help.

By 1997 the Trust employed three full time people and had 25 volunteers. The client group had grown from seeing 12 people a week in 1992 to working with over 2000 client hours in one year.

In 2010, The Sexual Abuse Survivors Trust has redesigned its marketing tools, and adopted the working name of The Monarch Centre. We work from 391 Durham Street North, which is in the centre lfChristchurch. On Site ACC registered counsellors continue to support those who have been subjected to sexual abuse.  We employ a Trust Manager, an Administrator, and Clinical Practice Manager, and have four ACC registered Counsellors on site

Additionally we provide support for parents and whanau of children who have en sexually abused/assaulted.  This is funded by CYF.

We continue to support our clients through both formal (through ACC contracts) and facilitated support groups for women survivors of sexual abuse. 

Each year we work more than 2500 hours directly with clients, with many more hours spent on report writing, training, and research.  Our SAFECARE service has (on average) 100 call outs each year, with many others calls on  the service requesting support for survivors through court process, telephone support and other issues  Our SAFECARE service continues to be provided on a 24/7 basis by volunteers.

We work closely with others in the network, in particular START Trust and MSSAT (Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust) and STOP.  We are an active member of CSSV (Canterbury Solutions to Sexual Violence)

The Sexual Abuse Survivors Trust remains our legal identity but we are now marketed as The Monarch Centre and are registered under The Charities Commission CC21277