A supervisor of the Men’s Development Network has told Tipp FM there is an increase of men over 60 seeking help for domestic abuse.
Derek Smith works with the charity group which has a dedicated and confidential helpline available for men 7 days a week covering every county in Ireland.
He told Tipp Today that while there is more awareness now of the devastating effects of domestic abuse much of the focus is placed on young female victims while they have noticed a significant rise in the number of calls from men 60+.
Derek says that many of these men thought they didn’t have a voice and felt ashamed of how they were feeling.
He gave one example of a caller who recently realised he had been a victim for over 30 years.
“It was mainly coercive control down through the years like where are you going, what are you doing what time will you be back at… and there was financial control as well.
“There was one incident he said he was going out with a friend and he didn’t go out very often he said and he was going out the door and his partner kicked him and he said it was so sore he said he’d never forget it.”
Derek told the station that many of these men have expressed to them that they didn’t know what Coercive Control was and were unaware they were victims for years until they heard someone else talk about it.
He says that there are currently no refuges for men who are at risk and advised anyone in need of assistance to call the helpline or their local Garda Station :
“If anybody felt in danger I would strongly recommend that they call into the Garda Station and have a conversation because the Gardaí are very, very helpful… But also the line is a 1800 number it’s a free phone number the conversation is totally confidential so if anyone wanted to call us it’s a freephone number and the line is open every day it’s open 7 days a week.”
1800 816 588 – Helpline Number
