To bring up a colleagues sexual assault at work

Say nothing. You have no idea how the mention of this at work will make her feel, or how she will react.

What about a wee card. I read the article and here if you ever need support or a chat x

This. I think people are missing the point that she chose to relinquish her anonymity and give an interview to a national newspaper, which is a really courageous thing to do. She will be well aware that people she knows will read it.

Their relationship is not strictly work, they're friendly and if she wanted to keep it private she wouldn't have don't an interview. Clearly she wanted it to be public, Good for her, she deserves support from her friends.

No wonder there can be such a stigma about certain things if people are told to keep their mouth shut when all they want to do is show support for someone who has been through something horrific.

I wrote an article for my work on something that happened to me that was very distressing and horrible but I did so to raise awareness and break the stigma. I was overjoyed when people came up to me to say they'd read it and we could talk openly about something very sensitive and upsetting.

If she's given an interview to a newspaper then I would absolutely say she'd be open to you saying something about it.

The story has been national news, I'm not sure that she 'went to the paper' so much as will have been approached for an interview since she'd waived her right to anonymity.

It’s socially inept to bring up something like this. Even if it was in the newspaper it’s something about her private life that there is a good chance she does not want to discuss at work

Assuming this is the case that's been in the news recently, I think I would want to just tell her how amazing and brave she is, given that you're friendly. She'll almost certainly know that you know, since its been headline news, particularly in the area.

well if she went to a national newspaper i assume she must be Happy to discuss it

This is the approach I would take tbh, she’s incredibly brave and deserves to know that people admire her for that

I wouldn't bring it up, no. Waiving anonymity doesn't automatically mean that you want to discuss it at any and all times. She's at work, the chat should be about work or about general topics, not about personal matters. I very much doubt that she or anyone else would think that you don't care about her wellbeing or that you don't believe her by not bringing it up in conversation.

I would if the situation felt appropriate, she did something amazing, that should be acknowledged.

What a catty response.

I'd either not mention it op or just say you saw the article and she is very brave.

I would absolutely bring it up & show her solidarity. She went public

Keep it zipped if she wanted to talk to you about it she would.

That is a lot of “I” when she’s the one who was assaulted. As someone who had been the victim of a sexual assault I’d be saying why are you sorry !

Agree, this is about your need op . Which we’ve all been guilty of at one point I am sure.

If you are there for a work meeting, bringing that up could upset her and cause her problems for the meeting.
If she asks if you saw the article, best keep it brief, i.e., yes i did see. I hope you are beginning to heal

Hmm this is a tricky one. If I felt like I knew her well I would probably send a message and say you had read the article and that you think she is brave for doing so. Then leave it open eg. If you ever want to talk, let me know.

I think if I were in her situation I wpuld appreciate the acknowledgement.

If you get the opportunity to do it privately, then I would say I was sorry about her experience, that I'd read about in the article/interview & if she ever needed to talk about it I was there. It's difficult.

I think it’s probably best not to mention but if you do want to, then by an email or text message rather than face to face would be better I think so that she’s not put on the spot in front of people when she may not have time to go and compose herself if she needs to.

I think saying ‘I saw your article and I really admire your courage’ or something is better than apologising for what she experienced or feeling sorry for her.

You do not need to bring it up at all. Just talk to her as you normally would I sure she would prefer that than you bringing up the past because you want a pity party.

Honestly, if she's given an interview it's because she wants to raise awareness. Which is bloody amazing.

If I was sufficiently friendly I think I'd go with something like - "please tell me if you'd rather not talk about it, but I saw your interview and I think what you've done is brilliant."

So it's about the interview, not the assault, if that makes sense.

Given it’s been made public (by her), including in the paper, I think it would be appropriate to say you’ve seen the article and you’re impressed by her taking a stand like that.

I think that would be better than sympathy - you’re recognising her bravery, not casting her as a victim.