The organization promises confidentiality regarding everything shared within the group.
“This project is born with the commitment to creating a secure, empathetic, and transformative space, where each testimony is received with respect and dignity,” stated the group in a press release.
The initiative emphasizes its ethical commitment to include all voices, particularly the most vulnerable, in building fair and transformative responses.
It also aims to contribute to the creation of training materials, support guides, and educational resources that can serve the community, professionals, and institutions involved in the prevention and response to sexual violence, adopting a trauma-based intervention approach.
“With this initiative, Grupo VITA strengthens its commitment to promoting dignity, listening, and prevention, thereby placing victims and survivors at the center of change,” according to the document.
Victims may choose to participate in individual or group sessions. Group sessions occur monthly, online, after working hours, and are facilitated by two members of Grupo VITA.
The topics that can be addressed include discussing concrete strategies for making the church a safer and more protective space, essential content in the training of ecclesiastical agents, emotional and practical support for victims’ families and friends, and “active participation” in the development of public policy proposals.
Grupo VITA presents itself as an impartial, autonomous, and independent structure aimed at welcoming, listening, accompanying, and preventing situations of sexual violence involving children and vulnerable adults within the context of the Catholic Church in Portugal, following an intervention logic.
Interested parties in the new project can contact the group directly and access information via the website https://grupovita.pt/prevencao/.
