THE Victim Services Branch (VSB) of the justice ministry’s Social Justice Division is encouraging men who have been victims of crime to access its free counselling services.

With more than 70 per cent of its clientele in the last fiscal year being female, VSB Director Dionne Dawn Binns is appealing to men to reach out for support.

“We know that men are often victimised as well. What we want is to also encourage persons to reach out to the men who they may know have been victimised, and get them to contact us,” she said.

Binns, who was speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank at the agency’s head office in Kingston, said it is important that persons get help after a traumatic experience.

“We need to get back to the days where we were our brother’s keeper. When we look at these statistics, it’s alarming to us – and, unfortunately, it has become the reality that [this] is what we see every year. We want to encourage persons to seek the services they need,” she said.

The VSB provides emotional and counselling support as well as crisis intervention during the investigation of a crime.

Victim services officers provide support, not only to the direct or primary victims of a crime but also to the secondary victims (community members) and others who may be impacted.