Malika Reese advocating for survivors of complex trauma, child sexual abuse

Ms Reese was groomed from the age of four and sexually abused from the age of six by her stepfather, Richard Peter Maddox, who was jailed for three years in 2010 for his horrendous crimes.

She wanted people to know what he had done so she requested that the suppression order on her identity be dropped (it appeared she was only the second person in NSW to do so).

"Why should they be allowed to hide under our name suppression?" Ms Reese said.

She is now an advocate for survivors through her public speaking and work with the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, and she moves through the world with pride.

But it hasn't always been this way.

"I had crippling shame for a long time, insecurity, poor boundaries," Ms Reese said.

She had suffered complex trauma, which Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of the Blue Knot Foundation (the national centre of excellence for complex trauma) explained was the repeated and often extreme experiences of violence, abuse or neglect.

Dr Kezelman - herself a survivor of complex trauma - said this affected a person's sense of self-worth and the way they related to others and the world, especially when it occurred in childhood.

Speaking ahead of International Women's Day, Ms Reese wanted to shine a light on such abuse and gendered violence.

She said she could not believe that we lived in a country where two men were killed in one-punch attacks and it "shut down Sydney nightlife" - referring to the deaths of Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie in King's Cross and the resulting lock-out laws - but a woman continued to murdered every week by a former or current partner.

Dr Kezelman said days like IWD brought important issues like complex trauma to the fore, but it was vital that society overall had more conversations around topics like child sexual abuse and domestic violence.

It was also important to consider how the community could help victim-survivors, she said, while governments took a longer-term view at supporting them.

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For Ms Reese, individuals can help victim-survivors by simply listening to show them that they are seen, valued and loved.

She also said there needed to be more support available, such as the Women's Trauma Recovery Centre planned for the NSW Illawarra region.

Dr Kezelman said facilities like the centre were "incredibly important".

"This trauma centre is using a holistic lens, it's looking at the whole individual," she said.

With IWD to be marked on Wednesday, March 8, Ms Reese also simply wants to celebrate women.

"I want more balance in the world... On these days it's important to discuss women's rights and equality, and bring everyone up to a level playing field," she said.