grahame, it comes down to the 'starve them of oxygen' approach.
Support would / could be given to forum members, in the proposed private section. Since all established members of the forum would have access to that section, anyone who genuinely needed to know about such abuse, would indeed find out about it.
Think about it. Counter actions would be discussed in private, instead of vague or knee-jerk threats being issued on the open forum.
The overriding advantage is that none of this would interfere with the open forum. Interference with the open forum is the very aim of those seeking to attack the members you /or I wish to support.