Rape support service needs bigger premises
THE Wexford Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Service is in desperate need of a larger premises after outgrowing the small and cramped building in Clifford Street where it has operated for the past two decades.
Manager Clare Williams has appealed to the owners of unoccupied properties in Wexford town to contact the centre which urgently needs larger accommodation to cater for the increasing number of sexual abuse victims availing of the service.
She made the appeal as former Miss World Rosanna Davison publicly highlighted the work of the Wexford service during a visit to the town last Wednesday when she arrived to attend the Wexford Business Expo.
‘Our centre in Clifford Street is too small. It’s inadequate to meet the demands of the service. If there is someone who has a premises in Wexford town, we would be delighted to hear from them,’ said Clare.
Ms. Davison, a daughter of Chris de Burgh, whose grandmother Maeve Davison lives in Bargy Castle, Tomhaggard where she is a regular visitor, took time out to meet up with the staff of the rape crisis centre in Whites Hotel and to talk to them about the countywide service that is provided, with funding from Túsla.
She said that given her Wexford connections, she was keen to show her support for the important work of the centre which provides professional one-to-one counselling to victims of sexual violence along with personal accompaniment to garda stations and courts and education and training.
‘I had the opportunity to show my support and I was delighted to do so. There is a service here for the people who need it. I came here to meet the women behind the centre and to hear about the work that they do which is so important. It’s an issue that can always do with awareness being raised’, said Ms. Davison.
The centre has had a waiting list for counselling for the past six months and held a ‘Head to Toe’ event in Whites Hotel last week that raised approximately €10,000 which will help it to clear the backlog.
‘More people are presenting to the centre and we’ve had to get people to wait to be seen,’ said Clare, adding that 80% of clients are the victims of historic sexual abuse as children in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s who tried to suppress the trauma but found they could no longer do so and eventually decided they needed support. Among the triggers that prompt people to seek help can be a media report or the death of an abuser. The remainder are the victims of more recent and contemporary sexual assault incidents.
The centre is taking on a new staff member soon, to deliver an education programme about sexual violence to 15 to 17 year olds in schools around the county, focussing on topics such as healthy relationships and the meaning of consent.
The Wexford Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Service has a full-time manager, two parttime staff and three self-employed counsellors.
Clare Williams said the staff were delighted that Rosanna Davison chose to highlight the work of the centre and to raise awareness that there is a service in Wexford for those who have suffered sexual violence. Wexford company BNY Mellon offered its support by agreeing to donate an additional 50% of the amount raised during the Head to Toe event as part of a Community Partnership initiative which sees it assisting groups such as Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, Wexford Able Club and Wexford Women’s Refuge through sponsorship and voluntary hours by staff.