This paper reports on a community-based research project in a large diocese in NSW Australia where researchers have been collaborating with survivor support groups to understand the impacts of harm that child sexual abuse in Catholic and Anglican churches caused.
One focus of this work is examining the way in which harm against children is gendered. Another focus is the collaborative methodology that the project utilised. This paper will bring these two elements together and explore the methodological approach and its efficacy in determining and meeting the ongoing challenge of addressing childhood institutional trauma and its impacts on women survivors.
The key principles of the collaborative research model are based on the importance of the provision of support services, the call to justice from Church leaders and the building of knowledge. The project collectively functioned to democratize knowledge production and recognise lived expertise as an important form of hermeneutical justice.