Scottish Borders Rape Crisis Centre

A new telephone helpline for women and young girls aged 13 and over who have been subjected to traumatic sexual violence will be launched on July 1st, see the attached poster and a summary of the work of the Centre below for more information.

Background

Scottish Borders Rape Crisis Centre aims to provide emotional and practical support and information to women and girls aged 13 and over who have experienced rape or sexual violence in their lives.  This includes sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse and other forms of sexual violence.

The centre is run by women for women.  All workers are trained to a high standard and share the feminist view that violence against women is an abuse of power and should not happen.

How we work

We work to empower women: to support women to find and make their own choices.  We can give you information and support, but we believe that you are the expert in your own life.  This means that we will not tell you what to do.

We do not accept referrals from third parties.  This means that we ask you to contact us direct, as we believe it is important that it is your own choice to access our service.

Our support service

We respect the courage and strength it takes to speak out about your experience of rape or sexual violence, whether it has been a recent assault or whether it happened a long time ago.

When you contact us:

• we will believe you.
• we will listen to you.
• we will support you.

We will believe, listen to and support women of any age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or religious and cultural background.

Confidentiality

What you tell us remains confidential within our support team.  We will not tell anyone that you are being supported.  There are some circumstances however, when we are required to share information with other agencies.  A support worker will always discuss this with you first.

Telephone support

The opening times of our helpline may vary.  When the line is not staffed there will be a message telling you when a support worker will be available to speak to you.  You can either call back then or leave a message and we will return your call.  If you would like us to call you back, we will not say who we are unless we speak to you directly and our telephone number is always withheld.  You can use the helpline for ongoing support.  If you are deaf or hard of hearing, support can be provided via a minicom.

We are committed to providing a high quality service.  For this reason, from time to time, our helpline is monitored internally for training purposes.

Face to face support

When you contact us we will offer you a face-to-face session with a support worker.  You can use this time in any way you choose and we can talk through what support we can offer you.

Family, friends and partners

We offer telephone support to anyone who is supporting a woman or girl aged 13 or over, who has experienced rape or sexual violence.

Support our work by:

Believing a woman or girl who tells you she’s been assaulted.

Supporting her to make her own choices about what she wants to do.

Challenging abusive behaviour or views which promote violence.