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Catholic church offers free counselling in Zurich to tackle sexual abuse

Church launches consultation hours against sexual abuse in Zurich
Church launches consultation hours against sexual abuse in Zurich Keystone-SDA

The Catholic Church in the canton of Zurich is now offering its employees a counselling service for mental and sexual health. The project, which is anonymous and free of charge for employees, is the only one of its kind in Switzerland to date.

There are repeated calls for the prevention of sexual assault, Synodal Councillor Andreas Kopp told the media on Monday. The Zurich prevention project, which has been running since September and is aimed at church staff, focusses on potential perpetrators, Kopp continued.

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The project is initially planned to run for three years. After that, a report will be submitted to the Synodal Council, which will serve as a basis for deciding whether to continue, adapt or terminate the project, Kopp continued.

The Catholic Church in the Canton of Zurich finances the low-threshold programme. The project partner and contractor is the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich. The consultation takes place in the large outpatient centre in Oerlikon.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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