Grant to Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (360G-WomensFundScotland-FR-0052953)
Funding Organization
£2,198
Recipient Organization
To support the cost of increasing their support to survivors of sexual assault and abuse by 8.45 hrs a week for the next 3 months.
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Grant Details
| Amount Applied For | 5000 |
| Amount Awarded | 2198 |
| Award Date | 2020-04-30T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Beneficiary Location: Country Code | GB |
| Beneficiary Location: Geographic Code | S01008839 |
| Beneficiary Location: Geographic Code Type | DZ |
| Beneficiary Location: Name | Broughton North and Powderhall - 04 |
| Beneficiary Location: Name | City of Edinburgh |
| Data Source | https://www.womensfundscotland.org/ |
| Grant Programme: Code | Panel Ready WFS C19 |
| Grant Programme: Title | WFS COVID-19 |
| Last Modified | 2023-03-17T12:54:10Z |
| Recipient Org: Charity Number | SC006208 |
| Recipient Org: Company Number | SC291742 |
| Recipient Org: Description | Established in 1978 Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) is a specialist support, advocacy and information service for women, non-binary people, members of the transgender community and young people aged 12 and over in Edinburgh, East and Midlothian who have experienced sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse. Our charitable objectives are to reduce the distress and suffering of people affected by sexual violence through the provision of support and information, and to increase awareness of sexual violence and its impacts within the wider community. To deliver these objectives, we provide a holistic range of trauma-informed support services, including: ? Immediate crisis sessions (up to 4 sessions) for survivors who have been raped and/or sexually assaulted within past 7 days; ? Longer-term trauma support and counselling (up to 16 sessions); ? Advocacy support for survivors who report to the police, and through the justice process; ? High quality information about sexual violence and its impacts, including our bespoke information resources about trauma: the Little Green Book (for aged 15 and over) (https://www.ercc.scot/information/little-green-book/) and It?s Ok to Be Me (for 12-14 year olds) (https://www.ercc.scot/its-ok-to-be-me-booklet-for-12-14-year-olds/). In addition we work to tackle the root causes of sexual violence through prevention work with young people in schools and youth services across Edinburgh and Lothians, and through working strategically with multi-agency partners, including Police Scotland, NHS Lothian, local authorities and Higher Education institutions. We also deliver awareness-raising training events and workshops for a broad range of agencies and professionals. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, rape crisis services have been identified as essential services. To safeguard against risks of infection to staff and service users, we have suspended all our face to face support services, but are continuing to provide all these services instead by phone, email and text. Prior to COVID-19, our service was already operating at capacity. Over the past few years, in the aftermath of the #metoo movement, we have experienced an unprecedented increase in the level of need for our vital support. In the past year alone we have: ? Supported 857 survivors of sexual violence; ? Delivered 7760 support interventions (including appointments, email, phone, text and group support); ? Received 469 new referrals. At the point of writing 265 people are waiting to access one of our services, most of whom will require to wait up to a year to access the support they need. In view of these existing capacity challenges, and in turn the additional challenges created by COVID-19, we have had to take the very difficult decision to close our frontline support services to new referrals. The exception to this is that we are continuing to receive referrals from survivors who have experienced recent rape and sexual assault (in the past 7 days). All other new referrals are directed to our website www.ercc.scot where there is information about the National Rape Crisis helpline and textline, which can provide holding support until ERCC is in a position to re-open our services to new referrals. In addition, ERCC has prioritised developing and promoting supportive information resources to help survivors cope with additional health, well-being and safety concerns generated by COVID-19, which are exacerbating the existing health and well-being impacts associated with their experience(s) of sexual violence and trauma. Evidence from global research into the impacts of the pandemic on women and girls? safety during lockdown demonstrates a significant increase in domestic and sexual abuse. As a service we are particularly concerned about the increased risks to the safety and well-being of women and girls who are at risk of or experiencing domestic and sexual abuse/exploitation within their households. The UK?s National Domestic Abuse helpline has already seen a 25% increase in calls and online requests for help since the lockdown. Sexual violence is a key component of domestic abuse. We are therefore applying to the Women?s Fund for Scotland to help increase our capacity to better respond to the immediate challenges facing women survivors through the COVID-19 crisis- particularly to respond to immediate risks to women?s safety and well-being, and in addition with a view to working towards being able to reopen our services to new referrals. ERCC is a well-known service across Edinburgh and Lothians, with strong local strategic and operational partnerships, and a robust track record of effective performance. Over the past 40 years we have supported thousands of survivors of sexual violence to increase safety, health and wellbeing, and rebuild their lives after sexual violence. ERCC is managed by a professionally qualified Centre Director with 15 years? experience of managing services for survivors of abuse. Our governance is provided by a highly skilled board of 10 directors, who bring a broad range of strategic expertise including gender-based violence research and prevention, social work, corporate law, HR and fundraising. To ensure service quality we work to the National Rape Crisis Service Standards. Some of our key achievements over the past few years include: ? Continued influential impact of ERCC?s ground-breaking publication, A Woman?s Story. In May 2017 the then Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Mr Michael Matheson, directly referenced the impact of meeting the author of A Woman?s Story in his address to the Scottish Parliament on plans to transform the current health and justice response for victims of rape and sexual assault in Scotland through a newly established Taskforce for the Improvement of Services for Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault. ? The launch of ?Rising Free? in July 2019- a deeply powerful, moving and inspiring anthology of creative writing and storytelling by survivors of sexual violence who have accessed our support at ERCC. Their contributions in Rising Free are intended to share strength and voice with other survivors. The authors have shared readings from Rising Free at the Scottish Parliament, City Chambers in Edinburgh, Scottish Storytelling centre and have been mentioned at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. |
| Recipient Org: Web Address | https://www.ercc.scot |