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National Freephone Helpline

History

Established since 1985, Rape Crisis South London changed its name from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) in 2012.

Who are we?

Established since 1985, Rape Crisis South London changed its name from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) in 2012, with the advent of three other Rape Crisis Centres created to provide specialist support to women living in the North, East and West of London. In 2014, with the support of the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime, we have been able to establish satellite services across South London, to ensure no woman has to travel for more than an hour to access our therapy.

We were originally set up as part of a Women’s Aid project and have become an independent organisation operating out of a Croydon hub, with satellite services available in Kingston, Bexley, Greenwich, Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth, providing a high standard of professional support to female survivors of sexual violence.

We run a woman-only service, both for women accessing support and members of staff. This is in response to the needs of survivors and the disproportionate nature of sexual violence as committed by men against women and girls. For this reason we believe sexual violence to be both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and are committed to a feminist, empowering model of working.

Services

We are completely independent from government, police or the NHS. Most of our initial consultations and support services are provided from our anonymous building in Croydon. These include:

  • The national Rape Crisis helpline for women and girls, across England and Wales aged 13 years and over
  • Counselling 1-1, Group and Play Therapy for women and girls aged 4 years and over
  • Advocacy for women and girls aged 12 years and over who have or who are thinking about reporting to the police
  • Outreach support for women who face additional marginalisation and barriers to accessing support
  • Training for practitioners and organisations working across multi-agency settings and prevention with children and young people in education and youth settings
  • Consultation and responding to media and press enquiries.

Raising Survivor Voices

We are committed to ensuring the voices of survivors are heard at the highest levels. To do this we participate in a number of membership organisations, working groups and committees including:

  • Rape Crisis (England and Wales) adhering  to their occupational standards of service delivery.
  • End Violence Against Women Coalition
  • Women’s Resource Centre
  • Helplines Partnership
  • British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy
  • NCVO
  • RAINS
  • First Person Plural

Awards

  • GSK Impact Award 2019
  • Helpline Worker of the Year 2001, 2010 & 2019
  • Commendation Award from the Sustainable City Awards 2010
  • Investing in Volunteers 2004
Support Documents

Click here to view our support documents. Each document is available as a PDF download.

Safe Browsing

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