This content was supplied by Victim Support and is being published by the New Zealand Herald as advertorial.
If someone told you they had been the victim of a crime, would you know what to say?
Many people want to help, but don’t always realise the impact their first responsecan have.
Research from Victim Support shows there’s a dark culture of victim blaming in New Zealand. Often, it isn’t deliberate. It can come from friends, family, or colleagues who are trying to make sense of what happened.
Comments like these may seem small. But they can add shame, self-doubt and isolation to someone who is already coping with the impact of crime.
Many victims in the research described how the response they received from the first person they opened up to could either make or break their recovery.
Some even said being blamed affected them more than the crime itself.
The first person someone confides in can make a real difference to whether they feel safe enough to seek support and report crime.
