Traumatic Isolation: Institutional Stigma and the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract:This article considers stigma as it is constituted in institutional settings and its amplifying effects on survivor trauma. Evidence from the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed the impact of disclosure of sexual abuse on the lives of survivors, who described powerful forms of social isolation and the accompanying emotions of guilt, shame and self-hate. This article argues that the quality of stigmatisation in institutional settings is related to particular organisational mechanisms that induce isolation, creating forms of survivor stigma. A case study of the Towards Healing redress protocol utilised by the Australian Catholic Church provides insight into how such mechanisms work. The Royal Commission, also an example of an institution, provided a vehicle for the remediation of spoiled identities for survivors, suggesting that institutions can successfully respond to imperatives protecting organisational self-interest, and create social cohesion.