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Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
Perth & Kinross
WRASAC P&K
ANNUAL REPORT
2007-2008
Support for women, young women and girls who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives.
Registered Charity SCO37982
WRASAC is funded by the Scottish Government

THE FACTS
21% of girls and 11% of boys under 18 have experienced sexual abuse in childhood and we know that childhood abuse affects many into adulthood. The NSPCC Study into Child Abuse 2000
1 in 3 women have been raped or sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Edinburgh Women’s Safety Survey
1,109 rapes and attempted rapes and 1,497 indecent assaults were recorded by the police in Scotland. These figures do not take into account the large numbers of incidents which are not reported. Police statistics for 2004-2005
Significant under-reporting of rape; only between 1 in 5 and 1 in 8 women report to the police. The British Crime Survey of 2000
Local figures released by the Scottish Executive revealed that there were 11 cases of rape and 3 cases of attempted rape recorded 2004/2005 in Perth and Kinross – out of a total of 63 cases in Tayside only 5 made it to court and there was only 1 conviction. Conviction rates for rape and sexual abuse in Scotland remain the lowest in Europe at 2.9%.
Perth & Kinross - policed by Western Division - is home to 134,949 people (based on the 2001 census). The main centres of population are Perth, Blairgowrie, Crieff, Kinross and Pitlochry. Each of these areas will be home to an ever increasing population of women, young women and girls. When we consider that 1 in 3 of these women will experience sexual violence within her lifetime it was not unreasonable to conclude that the potential need for the services of the Women’s Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre Perth & Kinross was likely to be considerable.
BACKGROUND TO WRASAC P&K
From 1999 to 2006 there was no specific support service in Perth & Kinross for women who had been raped and/or sexually abused. Up until the end of 2006 WRASAC Dundee had been covering cases from Perth & Kinross. During 2005-2006 they received 3146 calls to their helpline, approximately 20% of their service users were from the Perth and Kinross area.
The Scottish Executive, having made considerable inroads into tackling Domestic Abuse, are now committed to widening the agenda through the strategic framework on Violence Against Women. The framework includes tackling all forms of violence against women and its impact on children and young people. It aims to support work at both local and national levels and ‘to encourage links between different forms of violence against women. To work towards the elimination of violence against women, young women and girls, with it’s starting point of a ‘shared understanding of the causes and nature of this violence.’ (Strategic Framework on Violence Against Women 2006).
Thanks to The Rape Crisis Specific Fund and Rape Crisis Scotland for choosing to invest in Perth & Kinross, we were given the opportunity to help forward this agenda through the development of WRASAC P&K. The Centre’s website was designed and created to optimise availability of information to women who are able to gain internet access and went live in December 2006. The helpline went live and the Centre was opened on 4th December 2006 and was launched in March 2007.
All workers, paid or unpaid, must undergo specific rape crisis training before they are able to deliver support and a group of eight volunteers were recruited and received training in partnership with WRASAC Dundee.
WRASAC P&K
2007 -2008
Our first year has been challenging and in the period 2007 – 2008 we have already experienced rapid change and growth within the organisation. Our original office base soon proved to be inadequate for the demand for face to face support and we have moved to a much larger ground floor space within the same premises. The new Centre offers a welcoming accessible space for women, a private counselling room and a dedicated room for helpline work. In March of 2007 we were successful in our application to the Scottish Executive Survivors of Sexual Abuse Service Development Fund. This enabled us to employ a support worker to work with those women who have survived childhood sexual abuse. We were also able to increase the hours of the admin/finance worker to support this post. Another successful application to the Nationwide Fund has provided essential monies for the support and training of volunteer workers. All of these improvements have helped us to consolidate our service and continue to develop plans for the future.
Over 2007 – 2008 the Centre has provided support to 22 women either through face to face, telephone or email support. The Helpline has received over 300 calls.
Reflecting on the considerable progress that has been achieved in the first year of operation, we have exceeded our own expectations. We have established a firm basis from which to work and further develop to provide a more responsive service to women in Perth & Kinross. Our expectations of demand have been confirmed and we have plans to recruit and train a further group of volunteers to help meet this.
PARTNERSHIP WORKING
An important part of our development is to seek opportunities for partnership working across Perth & Kinross and we have sound links with Perthshire Women’s Aid, Mindspace pk, Womenspace, and the Family Protection Unit. We are members of the Perth & Kinross Council Domestic Abuse Forum which brings together around 20 agencies from the area including police, housing, criminal justice, health and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies working against violence against women and children. We also currently participate in two of the Forum sub-groups.
AWARENESS RAISING
Following our launch in March 2007 we distributed approx 2000 leaflets, flyers and posters across Perth & Kinross to all agencies, health centres and groups who work with women and children.
We continue to be involved in awareness raising events and are developing further links within the community to provide talks and awareness raising training. In the coming year we have bookings from various agencies and groups to deliver awareness training. We are looking forward to further developing and widening our resources in this area. Our website has proved to be very well used and is receiving an average of 65 visits per month. We plan to improve the website in the coming year to include links to other relevant sites and an evaluation tool to make sure we are providing the type of information and links women are seeking.
We aim to continue to raise awareness of the effects of sexual violence against women and to be involved in campaigning on behalf of women everywhere to change attitudes within our communities which blame women and absolve perpetrators of the responsibility for their violence against women and children.
PRIORITIES FOR THE COMING YEAR
Increase Helpline times
Develop group support for survivors to include those who self-harm and/or express suicidal intentions
Develop and deliver multi-agency awareness training
Develop and deliver personal safety training for women and young women
Develop outreach services for women who have difficulty accessing our Centre
Further develop partnership working with agencies who work closely with women and children
Develop the website to include links to other relevant sites
Maggie McVean, Development Manager
VOLUNTEER REPORT This year I applied to become a volunteer with WRARASC P&K; after a successful interview I commenced a month long training schedule.
The training programme consisted of nine sessions that proved to be very informative and immensely thought provoking. The delivery of the sessions was varied, interesting and sometimes they invoked lively debates amongst us all. It would be fair to say that on occasion the content could be both upsetting and disturbing but we were forewarned that this may be the case and the sessions were handled sensitively and in a very supportive manner.
Being a volunteer with WRASAC P&K offers a diverse range of roles and tasks. This provides an opportunity to enhance personal skills, acquire new learning and gain new experiences. Providing direct support work for women and young girls is pivotal, however there are many other tasks that volunteers can do to help maintain this valuable service.
As a volunteer that has completed the programme of initial training I am, along with three other volunteers, undergoing my induction period. I have found all the staff members to be very welcoming and encouraging. I feel valued and part of a close team in a short space of time. I know there is much more to do and learn along the way but I feel there is a real sense of striving to move forward and develop the organisation further in the future and I am grateful to be given the opportunity to be part of this.
Donna, Volunteer Support Worker
ADMIN/FINANCE WORKER REPORT I joined WRASAC P&K in December to provide temporary cover whilst a full time member of staff was recruited and 10 months later I am delighted to still be here! I accepted the post of Finance and Administration Officer in February which I balance alongside a part time post with the Perth and Kinross Domestic Abuse Forum. The position is varied and challenging and I am grateful to work not only with a fantastic group of people but also for an organisation that I truly admire.
During my short time with WRASAC I have seen many changes and have been thrilled that each one has improved the service that we provide to women in P&K. My first task in this job was to organise and oversee moving premises to the ground floor. I am pleased to say that the move has been a great success and has created a fantastic open plan office plus separate helpline and counselling rooms which has made a huge difference to the service.
In addition to the move we have also welcomed Maggie McVean back, recruited Jen Stewart as our Support Worker/ Volunteer Co-ordinator and taken on a further four Volunteers. The WRASAC team has grown and strengthened beyond our expectations and the central ethos of the organisation which attracted me to it in the first place still remains.
Pip Radcliffe, Admin/Finance Worker
OUR AIMS
At WRASAC P&K we aim to relieve the distress of women, young women and girls who have been raped and /or sexually abused and of their partners, families and friends through the provision of emotional and practical support, information, advice and advocacy and; to advance education through the provision of information, advice and advocacy among professional bodies and the general public about the causes, nature, extent and effects of rape and sexual violence against women, young women and girls and ways of preventing or relieving the suffering it causes.
OUR OBJECTIVES
To provide face to face support to women, young women and girls who have been raped and /or sexually abused and to support their families, partners and friends.
To provide advocacy, information and accompanying services to women.
To provide a helpline to improve access to the service.
To provide telephone support out with helpline times.
To develop outreach services to women who are unable to access the centre for whatever reason.
To recruit and train volunteers to be support workers and to assist in the general running of the project.
To raise awareness within professional bodies and the general public of the causes, nature, extent and effects of rape and sexual violence against women, young women and girls and ways of preventing or relieving the distress it causes.
To provide Multi-agency training to ensure that women are receiving consistent responses and support across the key service.
We look forward to the coming year and further development of the service, campaigning to improve justice for women, young women and girls who have been affected by sexual violence. To achieve our aims and providing a service which is accessible and appropriate to survivors in Perth & Kinross.
THANKS
Our thanks go to the staff, volunteers and management committee for their commitment and hard work maintaining the service through challenging circumstances.
The network of Rape Crisis and in particular Dundee WRASAC who provided invaluable support in our first year and Rape Crisis Scotland for their support.
Our funders: Scottish Government Rape Crisis Specific Fund, Survivor Scotland Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse Service Development Fund, Nationwide Foundation and to all those who have kindly made donations in our first year.
Copies of our annual accounts can be obtained from the centre.

Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
Perth & Kinross
HELPLINE 01738 60965
DAILY MON-FRI 9.30am to 4.30pm
EVENINGS TUESDAY & SUNDAY 7pm to 9pm
PO BOX 7570
PERTH PH2 1BY
BUSINESS LINE 01738 626290
EMAIL: info@perthshirerapecrisis.org
www.perthshirerapecrisis.org
Registered Charity SCO37982
WRASAC is funded by the Scottish Government