Protecting Bermuda’s children is a vital cause that is very close to Karen Olson’s heart.

Which is why the mother of two became a dedicated volunteer for SCARS (Saving Children and Revealing Secrets), which aims to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse and to be a voice for victims and their families.

Attending one of their training classes taught her about protecting children from predators and opened Ms Olson’s eyes to the extent of this devastating problem, prompting her to step up to assist the charity, founded by mother Debi Ray-Rivers in 2011.

“I’ve probably been volunteering with them for about two years now,” Ms Olson said. “I’ve known Debi for years and went to a training session to learn what SCARS was all about.

“I learnt that I’ve lived such a sheltered life. I learnt that two friends had been molested as children and that child abuse is all around us.

“I’m a mother, I couldn’t imagine that could have happened to my children. You don’t want to think these things happen.

“I wanted to help and do something positive for Bermuda.”

Ms Olson, a Bermudian, took on the role of treasurer — handling the charity’s accounts and various administrative tasks, which takes up many evenings and weekends.

But she is more than happy to devote the time and energy to such a worthwhile cause — although the shy and modest mother has preferred to work quietly in the back rather than be a public face of the charity.

“It’s amazing being able to help the poor people who have been through this and hopefully making people aware of abuse to prevent it,” she said. “I like to be able to give and I’d been looking for a charity to get involved in. I like to be busy. I’m not one for sitting at home.

“But I’ve never experienced abuse so I don’t have that to draw on and I don’t like being the person out front, so I took on the admin — I pay the bills, do the banking. Give me the work to do in the back.”

SCARS’ mission is to end the silence, secrets and shame surrounding child sexual abuse.

Among the charity’s resources is the Darkness to Light Stewards of Children training programme, which teaches adults how to prevent, recognise and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.

The classes are free and open to all members of the community, not just parents, teachers or those who work with children, and the training combines survivors’ stories, expert advice and practical guidance for preventing child sexual abuse.

SCARS also outlines the hard and horrifying facts about child abuse — that about one in ten children is abused before their 18th birthday, and that only ten percent of predators are strangers to the children they target. Forty percent of victims are abused by older or more powerful children and between 30 and 40 percent of abusers are family members.

“People at the training have said, ‘wow, I didn’t know all this’,” Ms Olson said. “People who work with children now think, maybe I should go back and look at this child’s situation again and ask questions.

“SCARS is the only charity on the Island doing this type of work. Debi and Helen [Ponte, director of programmes and operations] are totally committed.

“I definitely recommend people do the training, even if you don’t deal with children. You can learn the signs and help someone else to.

“Abuse can affect anyone and a lot of people hide it, they are scared to get it out. But SCARS shows there are places to get help and that it’s not the victim’s fault.

“People don’t want to think about child abuse.

“I was never exposed to abuse and I’d never have thought about not sending my children to a class or camp by themselves — I trusted everybody. That comes from a sheltered life — we don’t want to think anybody is going to harm a child.”

Ms Olson, 53, is mother to Douglas, 26, and Jeffrey, 22. The former works at his father’s bar, the latter is at university. With her sons grown, she enjoys focusing on helping the community, and volunteers for the Bermuda Junior Service League as well as SCARS.

She also works full-time with two jobs — as an office administrator for Rosemont Guest Suites and with ABS Accounting Services.

“I was with the Junior Service League for years and I still sell books and cards for them,” she said.

“I’m too old to be a league member now but I’m a life member and still like to help. I don’t like to sit still.”

Ms Olson said she was keen to continue working with SCARS and promote their training — more than 2,000 people in Bermuda have taken their class so far.

“It’s amazing what SCARS has achieved in such a short time,” she said. “Debi is doing an amazing job, she has such a passion for it, so does Jon [Brunson, chairman of SCARS’s board and a facilitator at the training classes].

“We want to keep making people aware that abuse is going on. And it helps people once they can talk about it. People who are there do talk about their experiences. It’s very therapeutic and so many people are in the same boat.

“The focus is on prevention, we’re not in a position to start counselling people but we can make people aware.

“It’s great that so many schools, Sunday schools and sports are getting involved. These people see kids sometimes more than the parents do.”

Ms Olson credits SCARS with prompting people to report child abuse. US research shows about 88 percent of abuse is never reported. In a small community especially, people may not want their private business exposed. But the charity is spreading the message that the shame rests with the perpetrator, not the victim or their family.

“I think SCARS has definitely helped inspire more victims to come forward to report abuse,” Ms Olson said.

“I had a friend say they were molested years ago and had heard about SCARS and whether to go along.

“They said it was very hard keeping that inside for so long.

“Abuse can affect anybody — it doesn’t matter whether you come from money or not, are black or white, young or old — and a lot of people do hide it. Get help and don’t be afraid to do so.”

SCARS’ training class and other resources are free to the public thanks to generous corporate donors.

“We can even come to homes,” Ms Olson said. “Get a group of friends together if you can’t come to the weekend class.”

•For more information or to attend the training, visit www.scarsbermuda.com or email training@scars.bm

TALKING ABOUT ABUSE

Do you know someone who is dedicated to making the Island a better place? Is there a good samaritan who selflessly helps others? A volunteer working tirelessly for charity? E-mail lmcgrath@royalgazette.com or call 278-0157.