REGINA – Making an effort to include men is behind the renaming of the Regina Sexual Assault Centre.
The centre used to be known as the Regina Women’s Community Centre and Sexual Assault Line.
Jana Ellis of the board of directors say the doors have always been open to men, but they probably weren’t comfortable coming to a place called a women’s centre.
The centre has noticed an increase in the number of men sexually abused as children who are now looking for counselling support.
Regina counsellor Sheila Brandick says the system has been very lax about providing services to men.
She says with men, treatment usually focused on other areas such as depression, anxiety and relationship issues.
“We really didn’t focus on the sexual assault that happened to him and work on that area so that he could work on the side effects,” she said.
“We always thought there were more women sexually assaulted then men, but the stats show us that men may be being assaulted almost as frequently as women.”
Brandick says high-profile cases of sexual assault including hockey players Sheldon Kennedy, Todd Holt and Theo Fleury have encouraged more men to talk about their own experiences.
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