2:39pm Thursday 9th July 2009
By Fran Bardsley
A SERVICE which offers a lifeline to victims of sexual abuse in Oxfordshire has been given a cash boost to take on its first paid workers.
Oxfordshire Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre has been able to appoint two co-ordinators to run the organisation – attracting funding, providing a public face for the service and making sure more victims of sexual abuse are aware it exists.
The centre, which has been running since 1981, is the only one of its kind in the county.
Hannah Clare, who spent a year volunteering on the organisation’s helpline before being appointed co-ordinator along with Catherine House, said: “We can’t quantify how important it is to have us in post.
“It means basically we can have a face, represent the centre at meetings at county level and work on expanding our services.
“We can take the burden off volunteers in terms of looking for funding to keep the service going.
“It had been getting harder and harder to rely on the will of volunteers, so this is a really exciting time for us.”
The next step for the Oxford City Council-funded organisation, which last year received about 350 calls from victims of sexual abuse and rape, will be to achieve charitable status.
Ms Clare and Mrs House, whose posts are funded until October, said they were planning to extend services from the helpline listening service to including face to face advice and support groups.
They will also be going into schools to talk about issues such as rape and sexual abuse.
Ms Clare said: “We can do more awareness-raising in the community and focus on both short term and long term goals.
“Before, there was no way of following through, but now we are at those meetings getting our voice heard — and we have learned a lot that we can pass on.
“At the end of the day the sustainability will always come down to the funding we have got, but having us here means we can make massive leaps.
“We hope that by the time our contracts end, we will be in a position to have secured enough funding to stay in post.”
She said the centre tailored its service based on the amount of money it got each year – last year it included a £10,000 grant from Oxford City Council and other smaller donations. The posts have been funded for this year by a £20,000 Government grant.
fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk.
The free helpline on 0800 7836294 offers an anonymous listening service on Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings and Friday lunchtimes.
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