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Wellness
LifestyleHealth & Wellness

Sexual abuse survivor who founded support group in Hong Kong on her own trauma, and advice for others

  • It has taken decades for Taura Edgar to be able to talk openly about the sexual abuse she suffered at home as a child
  • The group she founded, Talk Hong Kong, holds group sessions for survivors on issues such as coping skills, and lobbies for court sentencing reforms

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Childhood sexual abuse survivor Taura Edgar set up Talk Hong Kong to provide support for surviviors of sexual abuse. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Kylie Knott

Taura Edgar wasn’t reminiscing about a happy childhood spent with her dad when Father’s Day rolled around on June 20.

Edgar says she was sexually abused by her father from the age of 10 to 14 and, like many survivors of childhood abuse, it took years for her to seek the help she needed from a therapist.

It is only now that the 51-year-old American is able to talk openly about her experience in the hope that it helps others. 

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“Unaddressed trauma is an underlying epidemic,” says Edgar, who has struggled with anger management, depression, and trust and intimacy fears that make relationships difficult. One break-up in particular sent her back into therapy and prompted her to look for support in Hong Kong, the city she’s called home since 1998.
In 2019, WHO formally recognised the existence of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that develops in response to prolonged, repeated experience of interpersonal trauma. Photo: Shutterstock
In 2019, WHO formally recognised the existence of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that develops in response to prolonged, repeated experience of interpersonal trauma. Photo: Shutterstock

“It was tough, Googling ‘Sex abuse support Hong Kong’, especially when you’re still dealing with trauma,” says Edgar.

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Finding the support she needed in English was difficult so, after hints from her therapist, Edgar established Talk Hong Kong, a support group for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. “I don’t want anybody else to be in that desperate support search situation,” she says.

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