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A Delhi-based centre provides support to survivors of incest.
RAHI, a Delhi-based support centre for female victims of incest, is making it possible for them to grow from victim to survivor, and finally to contributor. RAHI’s approach to healing survivors of incest emphasises breaking the silence on their painful experiences. Survivors are encouraged to share their experiences and feelings with a knowledgeable and concerned individual, within a safe,supportive and thoroughly confidential space. Group support, where personal experiences are shared, is considered therapeutic. RAHI organises different kinds of such groups, like the psycho-educational groups for new survivors. And puts survivors who wish to meet a therapist in touch with the appropriate person through their network of psychologists, psychoanalysts and counsellors. “Although there are no statistics available I believe childhood sexual abuse is frighteningly prevalent in India,” says Anuja Gupta, founder of RAHI. The centre recently conducted a case study, ‘Voices from the Silent Zone’, involving 600 English-speaking women from middle and upper-middle classes families in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta and Goa. The study indicated that of the 76 per cent of women who admitted tthey were sexually abused as children, 40 per cent were survivors of incest. Incest is, by far, the most common but least talked about oppression that many young girls silently suffer and survive. Centres like RAHI are doing significant work to change this scenario. “In the course of our therapy, we witness recognisable stages of recovery. There is a drastic change in her body language. The pace of recovery depends on who a person is and what her personality is like,” says a RAHI team member. RAHI also conducts and organises workshops on incest and sexual abuse and provides training for counsellors, individuals and organisations working with women, children and men. Research and documentation is another area RAHI specialises in. RAHI’s recent publication The House I Grew In (2000) is a first-ever record of experiences of those who survived abuse and incest in ‘well-knit Indian homes’. Information on incest and related issues is made available through brochures, books, articles, newsletters, audio and video cassettes. Contact: RAHI
M 79 G.K II, 2nd floor
New Delhi 110 048, India
Tel/ Fax: 91-11-623 8466/641 9849
Email:
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