Women grappling with the realisation that their husbands or partners have been charged with possessing child abuse material will today be able to access face-to-face support for the first time.

The ground-breaking support program, which will hold its first meeting in Melbourne today, will bring together 10 women to dissect and confront their personal circumstances.

The program marks a significant shift in the level of support offered to people whose former partners have been arrested and tried in court for child exploitation material. Until now, support has been limited to online forums.

It comes after police charged 13 Victorian men, including a school teacher, with possessing child exploitation material after raids in early April uncovered images of babies being subjected to violence and torture.

The program's impact is set to be profound, said Natalie Walker, the chief executive of the organisation that's running the group, PartnerSPEAK

"People feel like they're the only ones in the world that it's happened to," she said.

'There is life afterwards'

When police came to her house in Melbourne, Nijole Lucinskaite was with her grandson.

Two young men, who she soon learned were plainclothes police officers, walked in with her husband and introduced themselves.

When she asked why they were there, they said her husband should probably explain.

It has now been eight years since Nijole Lucinskaite's ex-husband was arrested by police. ( Supplied: Nijole Lucinskaite )

"[He] turned and just said that he's being investigated for his underage online activities," Ms Lucinskaite said.

"I was very aware that his daughter was sitting beside me and our grandson was there.

"When they walked out of the room, we just had to turn ourselves and say, 'that means young children, right?'"

After police took her husband and her computer, she cried for days. Her now ex-husband was jailed and ultimately deported back to the United States, where he's originally from.

Eight years after this all happened, she's still struck by the memories.

"How could you possibly be with, love someone who has such little regard for the life of innocents?" she said.

"That's the stuff that just annihilates you."

Her grief led her to PartnerSPEAK, where she's been volunteering for the past five years. Today, she will be one of the facilitators at the support group.

She said meeting other women with the same experiences made her hopeful.

"It was like seeing some sort of light at the end of the tunnel that this could be you one day," she said.

"That's one of the biggest advantages of being with other women who have experienced this sort of offence.

"There is life afterwards."

Agents for change

Research from Melbourne's RMIT University has found that the former partners of men caught with child abuse material suffer serious and long-term trauma.

Flick Grey says the support group doesn't wrap people in cotton wool. ( Supplied: SANE Australia )

Flick Grey, the group's other moderator, said it leaves women profoundly isolated.

But when they meet other women with shared experiences, they're not just looking for help, she said.

"Often they want to make sure that no-one else has to go through what they've been through," Ms Grey said.

"It's not a kind of service that treats people like they are harmed and need to be kind of wrapped in cotton wool. It really, really honours that these people have an enormous contribution to make for each other."

Women missing out

Women living in Melbourne are expected to be the major beneficiaries of the group, which the Victorian Government started funding in July last year.

Natalie Walker says demand has rapidly outstripped supply for PartnerSPEAK's services. ( Supplied: Natalie Walker )

The group is receiving $350,000 over two years to ramp up face-to-face support groups and raise awareness among the public sector and key agencies like the police.

But it's already being overwhelmed, with calls from women in regional areas, and interstate police forces.

"We know that this offence is escalating throughout Australia and … the number of affected families is escalating," Ms Walker said.

"We need a federal response, like we have a federal response for mental health or domestic violence.

"We're ready to go, we have the resources, we have the contacts, we have the people begging us to come to other states and we just don't have the money to get there."