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Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre has launched a counselling service for men.

The project will provide specialist counselling to men who have experienced any form of rape or sexual abuse at any point in their lives.

It will also help fathers and adult male siblings of abused children.

CRASAC already supports younger males from the ages of five to 18, but in the past, there was no provision for adult men.

For Dianne Whitfield, CRASAC’s chief officer, it was a gap in the service that needed to be filled: “Nobody knows what the prevalence of male rape and sexual violence actually is. National figures indicate that about 11 per cent of all victims are men.

“Until now, men that came to us were supported for a couple of years by our advocacy service, but if they wanted to continue their healing journey, we had to send them outside of Coventry for counselling.

“The men had built up trust in our service, and they were telling us clearly that they didn’t want to leave. That was the motivating factor for us. We know there is a need for our help here.”

Staff at CRASAC are keen to emphasise that their new service will have no effect on the current provision they offer to women.

Dianne said: “What we’ve done is made the services physically separate. We know that rape disproportionately affects women, so it’s important to keep women’s safe space within CRASAC – we will absolutely do that.”

Dianne told the Telegraph that sometimes, men and women who have experienced rape or sexual violence present with different issues.

"The men we’ve worked with have clearly expressed to us how hard it has been for them to come forward and speak about what’s happened.

“In a few cases, men may externalise their feelings – for example by becoming more aggressive, or by developing a reliance on drugs or alcohol.

“Women may self-harm or internalise their experiences. Of course, each individual is different, and that may not be the case at all. But here at CRASAC, we offer a variety of services.

“If somebody’s been raped, we offer crisis support. If they choose to report the crime, we will hold their hand throughout. If they don’t, we will offer an ongoing counselling service. With us, the control is back in the victim’s hands.”

CRASAC’s confidential helpline number is 02476 277777.