When I think about the nation’s popular culture of romanticising and accommodating crime I often despair. We have become so desensitised to the constant blood-letting that unless there’s an especially gruesome twist to a murder, it doesn’t elicit much of a response from the masses anymore.

A motor vehicle crash from which everyone involved escapes unscathed leaves rubbernecking passers-by visibly disappointed, and a crash which actually claims lives will attract a carnival-sized horde causing a traffic jam spanning miles, even if that crash takes place entirely off of the roadway.

Robberies don’t get a seat at the common discussion tables unless they’re carried out with Hollywood-type productions, and scamming is a proud new entry on a youngster’s resume these days.

For many generations, we have been driven by process rather than outcome, and no matter how far we land from our stated objectives we remain resolute in our commitment to archaic exercises. Even the people whose job it is to create solutions throw their hands in the air and boldly extract free passes from the emotionally destitute population by calling for divine intervention instead of fulfilling their professional obligations.

Set against such an uninspiring backdrop, it would be easy to give up hope, and many times I’ve come close to it. That is why it gives me immense pleasure to share a most beautiful outcome with you, and I am extremely grateful to the Jamaica Observer for giving me space to discuss some of the things we desperately need to discuss but shy away from.

For years now I have been on social media, much the same as most entertainers. It is a convenient tool for communicating with ease and speed so I have been using its advantage to discuss, among many other issues, the one which has impacted me the most — rape.

I discuss my experiences publicly because rape is not my private business. It is not a secret I own, but rather an inexcusable crime with which far too many of us are comfortable — a crime which persists because our collective attitudes of entitlement teamed with power addiction and general depravity pretend to need it, our conversations breed it, and our bizarre justifications feed it.

Throw over the victims a blanket woven of stigma and blame, ornately trimmed with mandated shame, and we have created a factory which simultaneously manufactures perpetrators and victims alike.

Remember that beautiful outcome I mentioned earlier? After a few years of shouting my disgust in the clearest, loudest voice I could muster and making absolutely sure there can be no possible attachment of ambiguity to my words, I shifted the angle of my conversation from one of acknowledgement and judgement to one of appeal. When I begged mental health practitioners for help with the flood of fellow survivors in my private messages I expected favourable responses, but nothing could prepare me for either the quantity or quality of the responses I got. I get goosebumps typing this, and so, before I become emotional, let me just tell you about the other side, which is so busy working that it most often gets overlooked.

My appeal was answered by a wave of volunteers of all kinds, from all over, the first of which was the Phoenix Counselling Centre run by counselling psychologist Dr Patrece Charles. Under Dr Charles’ guidance I went through the task of identifying a first team of ‘carers’, and this was very hard because every volunteer we looked at has the wealth of training and experience which appeal to the need at hand. I am extremely excited to introduce to you now the rest of the team. In no particular order:

• Sonia Wynter, Tea House Therapy, Guango Tree House, 29 Munroe Road in Kingston ( info@soniawynterassociates.com).

• Angela R Byrd, Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) specialist, Headquarters Department of the US Army G1.

• Melanie Petersen Tatum, trauma therapist and clinical social worker, Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Claire’s House) University of California, Berkeley.

• Shari N Warner, owner and clinical director of Serendipity Counselling and Consulting, LLC ( www.serendipitycounselingllc.com).

These are the people I call carers because they had to care to answer the call.

There are countless others and we will need them all, as well as others who want to get on board in any capacity. I encourage you to send an e-mail to endtrauma@gmail.com.

We are the heroes we’ve been waiting for.

Special thanks to my long-time friend Dean Mundy for being instrumental in getting this amazing initiative under way.

To survivors of sexual violence, all are welcome. Trauma doesn’t discriminate and neither do we.

Tanya Stephens is an international singer/songwriter and citizen of Jamaica.