Gloria is a survivor of institutional child sexual abuse.

She applied for redress through the National Redress Scheme.

My name is Gloria. I was institutionalised as a child at 18 months of age.

And I can say I've had a very long and interesting life.

I've been coming here to Lotus Place for a number of years.

And then one day, they started speaking about this National Redress.

They were there, you know, so look, if you want any help we’re here.

And I'm thinking, no, I don't really need any support.

I'll do it myself. And I just did it myself.

And I couldn't believe that I did it myself, because I'm not very good at filling out forms and stuff.

But this, I wanted to do by myself.

Even my daughter wanted to help me and I said, ‘no’.

I didn't want to sort of share a lot of things out.

For me, it was quite difficult.

Every little detail, every little story, but I was glad that I was doing it; very happy because it was going to end up in a good result.

Don't hold back. Let them have it and just put it down on the paper.

I was very proud of myself that I did it and I sent it off and pat myself on the shoulder.

Wow. I'm going to get results from this.

We got the money, and then I filled out the form.

Yes, I would like the apologies. I looked forward to those apologies actually and when they were happening,

I was so, so happy about it. 

And I even said this when I was having the apology.

I said, ‘I'm going to put it in a frame when I get the written one.’

And I did.

Having the oral and then the written apology, it's there in the flesh.

You can see it, all the words are there and I can read it again and again.

And it's just like a closing for me, like a complete ending of all the situations that happened.

Well, I would say go for it.

You’ll surprise yourself.

There’s questions there that you have to fill out, you have to answer truthfully.

But if, you'll find, when you're writing them, you're getting it off your chest.

You're putting it down on paper. And then from that, you will get a good result.

Although Gloria decided not to seek help with her application, Redress Support Services are available to anyone who needs assistance.

To find out more or connect with Redress Support Services, call 1800 737 377 Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm Australian Eastern Time.

Or visit nationalredress.gov.au