15,000 CALLS TO CITY RAPE CRISIS HELPLINE
ASUPPORT service for rape and domestic violence survivors has received more than 15,000 calls for help. Glasgow’s rape crisis centre said it will be a “record year”.
SCOTLAND’S largest help service for rape and domestic violence survivors is on course for a “record year” after receiving more than 15,000 requests for assistance.
Glasgow’s rape crisis centre, which is the busiest in the country, has seen a 500 per cent rise in the number of women contacting them by phone, email and text message in the last five years.
In the past 12 months alone, staff have handled more than 15,000 messages from survivors and have been helping more than 1100 people with long-term support.
Projects supporting disabled women, and those from other countries who are now living in Glasgow, have seen the largest increase in demand.
The centre’s Ruby project, which is aimed at helping women from abroad, has supported 175 women from 45 countries, speaking 25 languages in the last year.
Isabelle Kerr, centre manager, said: “By the looks of the figures we have already for the first half of the year, it looks as if we’re about to have another record year.
“We’re seeing more and more complex cases and we’re trying to make sure women who are very isolated and marginalised can get access to our service.
“The Ruby project is a victim of its own success. We are seeing a lot of referrals through word of mouth, from women in the community who feel they have had a good supported service and are speaking to other women in their community.
“Many women bring others in to see us, tell them where we are and tell them who to speak to.”
The growing number of women asking for help has been welcomed by centre manager Isabelle, however she said it is putting a strain on the organisation’s resources.
Staff and volunteers are now spending so much time trying to raise funds that they are unable to do more of the “vital outreach” work they would like to, says Isabelle.
The centre is looking to raise a further £25,000 this year just to help them continue running until December. Isabelle said: “We have been lucky in that we have been able to attract funds to help us with our work but I really have to emphasise that is taking its toll on the staff and volunteers, because we are constantly fundraising.
“That means some of the other bits of work we would like to do, such as more active development, can’t be done because we spend so much of our time looking for money just to keep the service going.
“We had the Big Lottery which has been fantastic and it is helping us to work with the most vulnerable and hard to reach women.
“We have been doing a lot of work with disabled women, for example.
“When we went out there and started promoting that service it was like the floodgates opening. Many disabled women said there just wasn’t anywhere they could go to get help, or they didn’t feel as if there was.
“We are now starting to get referrals from women saying they didn’t feel as though they had access to a service.”
The staff at the rape crisis centre say they also receive a huge volume of referrals from their Support to Report service, which is in connection with the police’s rape investigation unit.
The pioneering scheme helps women who contact the police to receive specialist support through the court process if they choose to pursue it.