Jack Keaveney of Victim Support is at pains to emphasise it is not a professional counselling service. It is more like a provider of emotional first aid. Take Joe, a 24-year-old Dubliner who left his girlfriend home from a disco. Outside her apartment he is badly beaten by a group of youths. He is treated in hospital and makes a physical recovery. But, says Mr Keaveney, after an "incubation period" of between 18 months and two years, the incident takes over Joe's life.
He attends court cases involving assault, though he knows none of the parties involved. He learns karate. He begins to think the assault would never have happened if he and his girlfriend had never gone to that disco in the first place.
Or take Bill, who was held hostage in his home for a couple of hours with a sawn-off shotgun pointed at him. The siege ended without incident but afterwards Bill would display uncharacteristic flashes of anger. He floored a beggar who asked him for money and walked off as though nothing had happened. His friends took him aside and told him he had "a problem".
Very often, Mr Keaveney says, the trauma leads to dependency on alcohol or tranquillisers. That, in turn, can add to the loss of a job.
In association with the Meath Hospital, Dublin, Victim Support has now set up the Hospital Support Service. This is intended to lend a sympathetic ear and provide an opportunity for injured victims of crime to talk about their experience in strict confidence.
The service will also provide the crime victim with information about rights and entitlements regarding compensation, legal aid and the courts system.
It will provide reassurance and information about personal security, insurance and health and counselling services. Mr Keaveney would also like to allay victims' fears by helping them to regain control and assisting them in re-establishing their self-esteem.
It is important, according to Mr Keaveney, to locate the new service away from hospital, which the victim associates with the trauma. In any case, he adds, space in hospitals is at a premium.
The Hospital Support Service is at 11 Parliament Street, Dublin.