Share Some Secrets: New Book Helps Abused Children Speak Out.

Children’s author Christina Gabbitas has created a book to help children speak out about abuse they may be suffering. The book explains how there are ‘good’ secrets such as a surprise birthday present and ‘troublesome’ secrets like abuse and manipulation. It is meant to encourage children to distinguish between the two, and support them in sharing troublesome secrets.

The idea came to Gabbitas a couple of years back “after seeing and listening to harrowing stories on the news and speaking to various individuals”.

According to The Guardian, the author says: “I started to look into available resources to try and educate early years and primary children. I noticed there was a distinct lack of books for a child to pick up without needing parental supervision. There is plenty of stuff available to help pick up the pieces afterwards, but we haven’t done enough to educate children from a young age”.

The story surrounds Billy and his sister Milly who is suffering from abuse at the hands of her uncle. Billy encourages his sister to tell a teacher about the troublesome secret her uncle is making her keep. Check out the video below to see the story for yourself.

As you will have noticed the Childline number appears at the end of the video. Childline is a free confidential resource for anyone under the age of 19 and has been helping children since 1986. Children can call the free number (08001111) or access help online from their trained advisors any time of the day or night.

The head of the NSPCC’s schools service, Karen Squillino says: “Abuse isn’t an inevitable part of childhood. Every 25 seconds a child phones ChildLine and often they have already spoken to an adult and nobody’s listened. (Share Some Secrets) is an excellent resource that children can access independently.”

Share Some Secrets audio CD is currently only available to buy via the UK Amazon but may be available worldwide soon.

Share Some Secrets UK