Importance of Safe Spaces
On Monday 30 January guest speaker Hannah McKimm in a detailed well-received presentation highlighted that sexual violence is a very important but taboo subject and her vision is to create a world where sexual violence appears in history books not newspapers. She revealed that more women are murdered by domestic violence in NI than in any part of the western world and that this violence doesn’t just happen it builds - there are signs, behaviours and patterns and there must be a greater awareness and understanding of the impact of Trauma on someone. She maintained that trauma does not come from the event but from not being able to talk about it and pointed out that she wants to educate and raise awareness and create safe spaces for survivors of sexual trauma to find support, growth and healing.
Thanking Hannah for her presentation President Steven noted that sexual violence was not acceptable in any society/culture at any time or circumstance and wished her every success in her mission.