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B4 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 26, 2002 Retired social worker recalls launching trauma centre By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER In 1983 Paul B ennett slow ly, clien t by client, began lifting the shroud o f secrecy that surrounded child abuse. His m ethod? H e sim ply asked the question that had never before been asked `W ere you abused as a child?' Initially, the social w orker posed the question to four fem ale clients he had been counseling for som e tim e on various other issues, such as addiction and depression. T he reaction to that questio n p ro m p ted sim ilar responses from each woman. A big sigh -- as if relieved to have been finally asked -- and then a flurry o f tears. "It abso lu tely shocked m e," said Bennett. It also changed the direction o f his counseling career. T he turnaround for the B u rlin g to n th erap ist cam e q u ite suddenly. D espite a busy private practice sched ule, he decided to take two days off to attend a workshop being presented in O akville by tw o professors from Los Angeles. "I rem em ber sitting at that w orkshop feeling quite skep tical that the sexual abuse of children w as being com m it ted by people w ithin their family. I thought this is an A m erican phenom enon, it couldn't be happening here." It appeared Bennett was not alone in his initial skepticism . O nly a sm all handful o f professionals attended the second day o f that 1983 w orkshop, including Bennett. Finally convinced, 20 o f them m et to brainstorm a local solution, a w ay they could collectively help the victims. The Halton Centre for Childhood Sexual A buse w as bom . In 1999, it becam e the Halton Traum a Centre. "We realized sexual abuse w as much more com m on than people knew, yet there w as no public discussion around it and as a result serious gaps in providing assistan ce to th ese v ictim s," said Bennett. Subsequent clients confirm ed the horrible truth -- sexual abuse o f chil dren existed w ithin the com m unity. Bennett soon cam e to discover the pop ulation o f adult survivors young victims was huge. Up until then, their attem pts to get help w ere not understood nor believed. W ith m ore passion than money, the band o f therapists began dissem inating w hat they had learned to other profes sionals: doctors, teachers, lawyers, pub lic health nurses. "The energy was pow erful and the response even more so," said the 65year-old Bennett who is now retired after 18 years w ith the Traum a Centre. "I am always so proud to have been The right chair is an important part of your work environment both at the office and at home. Stop by your local Office Depot store where our knowledgeable employees can help you choose the best chair for you. SNG6RSSUMMER W ORKSHOPS2002 1 S O ^G QEM O* D o you wonder what it would be ears or part l*ke to be Brittney Spea o f N 'SYNC? Mitch Seekins "pop" vocal teacher o f Juno nominees and winners like Hawksley Workman and Emm Grayner (singing with David Bowie) can help. The 1-week intensive workshop deals with: 1 vocal technique · vocal w arm -ups Paul Bennett a part o f this group o f volunteers, incredible people w ho w ere so driven to form an agency." He w as equally am azed by the sheer strength o f his clients. A dm iration, for their courage, am azem ent at their will to go on and seek help, to recover, to heal. Bennett's career as a social w orker has now gone full circle. H e's opened another private practice in Burlington returning to his early roots established 20 years earlier. The B urlington resid e n t's career spans three decades and began in the psychiatric departm ent at M cM aster University in Hamilton. W hile w orking full-time he also studied full-tim e earn ing tw o degrees, in social w ork and sociology. Joseph Brant H ospital was the next career stop w here he w orked three years in the psychiatric departm ent. By the tim e that 1983 w orkshop's revelations had crashed into B ennett's m indset, his practice was in full swing. But he took down his shingle in 1988 and d o n n ed an ad m in istrato r's cap. Provincial funding, albeit only a small am ount, for the Traum a C entre was finally secured. It m oved from borrow ing the photocopier and a m eeting room once a month at the H alton Catholic School B oard on D ru ry L ane in Burlignton to an office at 461 North Service Rd., in O akville w here it still remains. W ithout any experience in running an organization, Bennett was im m edi ately baptized into budget m anaging, endless paperw ork and staff relations -- a jack-of-all-trades, as he described. His longing to be back on the front lines led to his decision to retire com bined with the feeling that the agency needed a fresh new director to take the centre in to the next decade. It's m an date w ill and has rem ained the same after all these years: establish support groups for clients, educate and train professionals and raise aw areness in the com munity. T here is still m ore w ork to be done, added Bennett. In the past couple o f years there has been phenom enal growth -- estim ated at 200 per cent. -- in the num ber o f families referred to the agency. It's also estim ated that 60-80 per cent o f people w ith addiction problem s are likely to have faced abuse in their child hood. Treatm ent for both is im perative to recovery. And more outreach needs to be done around helping m en m ake the connec tion to their ow n abuse issues. Social constructs som etim es d o n 't allow m en to speak openly about their ow n pain, added Bennett. "It gives me great peace o f m ind that we have done such good w ork fo r the community. 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