Helen Counsell

Interesting story, however not well written, and often lapses into unnecessary detail and story telling. Hopefully this helps the author on her journey and may help others who have had similar experiences. Her credibility was lowered for me when she wrote of how ChildLine and other organisations say how people must feel or what they should have done; that is not how ChildLine operates. They never tell any young person what they should, must or ought to feel; they explore how it felt for that young person, accept, do not judge, do not tell them what they should have done or what have to do, They may say "that sounds ..... for you". They would never tell a child they should have fought off and abuser or told an adult. They accept that abuse is very complex and some young people do enjoy the attention which is confusing, often leading to feelings of guilt and shame. These inaccuracies or misunderstandings resulted in me beginning to question the accuracy of some of the author's other research, statements, and explanations. Her story is likely to be her experience, her own truth; in my own experience there are often many truths. My truth; your truth; the children's truth; friends truths and then what really happened.