Kia ora, My name is Sam Troth
The Road to Healing is a long road.
This is true for male survivors of sexual abuse.
No one knows this more than survivors themselves, and for Sam Troth this road to healing has been over 25 years.
Sam is embarking on a journey of 2,721,840 steps, beginning in Bluff through Aotearoa to Cape Reinga, taking around 55 days to complete, he will make the journey alone, on foot.
“Raising awareness of sexual abuse is my number one goal, to destigmatize abuse and to encourage victims to seek help.” said Troth.
62% of NZ males in psychiatric care were sexually abused as children and 90% of NZ males who suicide before age fourteen have been sexually abused.
Seeking help took Sam a number of years and took many forms, but during 2020 came his breaking point.
Having tried a number of avenues over time, Sam felt this was his last shot – he reached out to ACC and was referred to see a psychologist, through intensive therapy and then through ongoing counselling with Bruce Montgomery from Male Survivors Bay of Plenty, Sam began to discover his path to healing.
“It is commendable that Sam is willing to face his recovery by undertaking such a courageous mission as this. By putting himself out there for all to see speaks to the spirited act that Sam is willing to take. By doing this he is taking the power away from the shame that is often debilitating for men to step forward.” said Montgomery.
“Male survivors Bay of Plenty has had 80 men engage with the service over the past two years. The government 2018 census suggested there are a little over 150,000 men in the Bay of Plenty region.”
“When we apply the fact that 1 in 6 young boys up to the 18 years of age will experience sexual violence then potentially there are around 25,000 male survivors in the Bay of Plenty region.”
“When we include mental, emotional, psychological, and physical violence the figures change to 1 in 3 young boys up to the age of 18 years and subsequently the potential of being 35,000 male survivors in the Bay of Plenty region alone.” Montgomery added.
Survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault may never truly heal from the abuse they have been subjected to and mental health impacts can have lifelong effects with Male Survivors taking longer to disclose sexual abuse (>22 years) than women.
Sam is also quick to advocate beyond being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff – he is also focused on education and awareness.
“When Sam reached out to MSBOP to continue his recovery journey he stated his motivation for his next block of work he wanted to be inspiring to other male survivors. Sam came up with the idea of increasing the awareness for males who have had the experience of being abused by walking from Bluff to Cape Reinga.” said Montgomery.
Sam’s Journey through Aotearoa begins on the 24th of October in Bluff, along the way he will be visiting several Male Survivors branches to share his story and inspire other survivors to keep pushing forward.
The hikoi will also stop in Wellington where supported by The Road Forward, Sam hopes to visit parliament and share his story with ministers and officials, to advocate for support for victims, education and sensible sentencing.
For Sam this represents more than a hikoi, more than an awareness campaign – it signals the end of the suffering and of the new beginning.
