A new report by men’s domestic abuse service ‘Amen’ has identified a rising number of incidents being reported.

The figures in it look at incidents that occurred in 2013 – when the organisation helped over 2,000 individuals and noted a 3% increase on reported incidents from 2012.

Today’s figures are released to coincide with International Men’s Day.

Statistics

In the past year the organisation has been contacted 4,868 times by individuals seeking help.

These contacts were made by 2,263 individuals – 1,332 who were getting in touch with the organisation for the first time.

The busiest month of the year for contacts was November, when they were contacted over 500 times.

Of the contacts made to the organisation – the majority came from those who had been on the receiving end of domestic violence – although some also came from relations or other sources.

Of those contacting the organisation, the majority fell into the age bracket of 50-60 years. Almost 90% of calls received by the organisation came from Irish males, although a smaller number also came from other European and African men.

Increase

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Sandra Kelly, a support worker with Amen thinks that a number of factors may have contributed to the rise in reported domestic violence incidents.

“I think it is a mixture of a lot of things. The more awareness there, and it is the more likely that someone would come forward. But we still have men who call who say ‘we have no idea you exist’ – anytime there is something on the news or radio we get new clients calling.”

“You also get men whose family get in contact, and later then, the men will get in touch themselves, said Kelly.

In terms of incidences of domestic violence, I would also say that it has increased over the years. The reason for which we don’t know.

Amen

Amen works as a support service and has been in operation since 1997. It operates on a system of volunteers and offers help to men suffering from domestic violence.

Those who come forward to the organisation are offered assistance that includes one to one sessions, court accompaniment, weekly support group meetings and counselling sessions.

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