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Administrative Assistant vacancy

We are recruiting a part-time administrative assistant to support us at RSVP to deliver professional, sensitive and compassionate services to survivors of sexual violence.

Administrative Assistant

16 hours per week

Wednesday 9-5

and

Tuesday or Thursday 9-5

£15,941 (pro rata)

Your role will be to provide general administration support, reception duties with some marketing duties. You will work closely with the Administrator, Head of Counselling and Wellbeing Services and Head of Business Development.

Download the job description

Download the person specification

Download the application form

Deadline for applications is 5pm, Thursday 16th June. Please email applications to info@rsvporg.co.uk

Please contact Anjella or Sarah with any queries info@rsvporg.uk / 0121 643 0301

ASC (Abuse Survivors Clinic)

We recently appointed a number of new ISVAs to grow our advocacy service, here is a guest blog post from one of our news ISVAs, Natalie Harris about our work at the Abuse Survivors Clinic.

Hi, my name is Natalie and I am a ‘newbie’ ISVA (Independent Sexual Violence Advocate) here at RSVP. Having previously worked in the field of addiction, supporting and empowering people is what I enjoy most, which reinforces that my day to day role is more than just a job.

The role of ISVA is so broad and varied that it is not the easiest to define. In a nutshell, we support and advocate for clients/service users that are survivors of sexual violence.  This entails support throughout the legal process, identifying, signposting and/or supporting practically with unmet needs and providing emotional support.

I see my role as walking by the side of the client and supporting with each step they take on their journey.

ASC

In order to continue to strive towards the delivery of a seamless service for our clients, we have recently embarked upon a fresh working partnership with Umbrella sexual health services. One of the latest projects is the ASC (Abuse Survivors Clinic) clinic.  This clinic operates 2-3 times per month on a Wednesday at Whittall Street Clinic, Whittall Street, Birmingham, B4 6DH and is available for survivors of abuse, providing specialised, sensitive support around sexual health screenings.  In addition, clients have the opportunity to explore support options available with an ISVA from RSVP who will be present at every ASC.

The schedule for this clinic is as follows:

8^th June 2016

22^nd June 2016

6^th July 2016

20^th July 2016

3^rd August 2016

17^th August 2016

31^st August 2016

14^th September 2016

28^th September 2016

12^th October 2016

26^th October 2016

9^th November 2016

23^rd November 2016

7^th December 2016

To access the clinic please contact: 0121 237 5700

Settling in as a new ISVA

We recently appointed a number of new ISVAs to grow our advocacy service, here is a guest blog post from one of our news ISVAs, Lisa Holden.

Hi and welcome.  I’m Lisa a new independent sexual violence advocate (ISVA) here. I wanted to write a post offering a glimpse into how I’ve settled in to my first month on the job.

As an advocate I provide emotional and practical support to survivors of sexual violence, offering them a voice and ensuring their wishes, opinions and needs are listened to and heard. This includes informing and supporting clients through their options regarding police reporting, aiding survivors through legal and court proceedings and procedures (ensuring any special measures are requested and provided), and offering support to clients who wish to access other service providers, such as organising GUM appointments and attending with the client for moral support.

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the magnificence of the RSVP team. From ISVAs, managers, counsellors and administration staff, I have never found a more welcoming, caring, passionate and inspiring workforce. I not only consider myself immensely lucky to be part of such a supportive team, but I feel honoured to be working for an extremely worthy cause.

Consequently, settling in within the tremendously fast paced ISVA office has been an easy and relaxed journey for me. Each staff member has been attentive in helping me learn both the technical and emotional aspects of my role, ensuring that I have a safe and comfortable environment to ask questions. The team always makes sure I am on the right track and regularly ask ‘how are you?’ and ‘how are you getting on?’ which has really made me feel at home.

There are so many aspects of my job that I can already say I LOVE. The role is so varied and every day is different. One day I could be undertaking initial assessments with clients and discussing reporting procedures or undertaking an anonymous report with the police, the next I could be attending an ABE interview with a client, or going to a GUM appointment with a client.  The fact that I am responsible for my own caseload and organise my own appointments allows me to feel a sense of freedom and autonomy I haven’t felt before and this has had a massive positive effect on me.

The organisation are also really focused on making every member of the team an expert in the field and encourage us to undertake any relevant training opportunities.  I am excited about undertaking the ISVA specialist Lime Culture accredited training, and I’m extremely enthusiastic about becoming a young person’s mental health first aider. I have also attended training on FGM and alcohol and drug abuse.

But what I love most is my pastoral duties. Supporting and empowering clients by ensuring that they have all the right information and tools to make their own decisions is extremely rewarding. Providing clients with a safe space to explore their options and needs, as well as providing a platform for them to be heard enables them to gain back a sense of control at a time that seems completely out of control. Being the person that supports them to do that is an incredible honour.

Learn more about the ISVA service here. You can contact us for more information or to make a referral here.

Steve wins Volunteer of the Year!

We are delighted that Steve Tallett, who volunteers as a counsellor for us at RSVP (as well as volunteering with many other fabulous organisations too) has won ‘Towergate’s Volunteer of the Year’ award. Read more about the Care Awards on their website here. Well done Steve!

Legal Clinic for Survivors

Expert sexual abuse lawyers at Irwin Mitchell have teamed up with us to provide free legal advice for the people we have supported in the past and those who currently use our services.

The aim of the clinics, which will be held at Grosvenor House, Birmingham, on the last Friday of each month, is to offer free legal advice to survivors using RSVP’s services to provide a broad range of legal topics, including civil claims.

We were the Charity of the Year for Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office in 2015 and the firm has worked closely with us in its efforts to support survivors of sexual violence and abuse.

Expert sexual abuse lawyer Scott Tolliss, who is also a Trustee of RSVP, will be providing free advice, alongside Yvonne Langham, our Head of Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy (ISVA) Services and her advocacy team.

Scott said:
“Through our work with survivors of abuse in the West Midlands we understand just how important RSVP is to those affected by these issues and we have worked very closely with the charity in the past to raise funds to allow it to continue providing the services it does.

“We are delighted to now be able to provide free legal advice to those who use the service currently and anyone who used it in the past. We hope to be able to provide advice across a wide range of issues affecting survivors of sexual assault and abuse, to ensure they can access the help they require.” Scott Tolliss, Other Legal Expert at Irwin Mitchell.

Lisa Thompson, RSVP’s CEO, said: “We are constantly working to improve the services we can offer to women and men affected by sexual violence, rape and abuse and we believe these free legal clinics will once again increase the level of help and support we can provide.

“The clinics for our clients will take place on the last Friday of every month and we hope it will prove to be extremely useful to those who require legal advice, but may not be able to afford it.”

Survivors and self-harm

This guest blog is from Lesley Parker, a highly experienced professional who is delivering training at RSVP on Friday 10th June on Working with Self-harm. The training is open to counsellors, social workers and other professionals who come into contact with clients who self-harm. More info on the course and how to book a place is  here.

I’m Lesley Parker. I’ve been a counsellor and psychotherapist for over 20 years. During that time I have worked for an adult survivors service in Walsall and also specialised in working with rape victims at Victim Support. I spent a good few years setting up, developing and delivering a drug counselling service for young people and also developed myself as a trainer and supervisor. Over all of these years and services I have encountered many many people who have had issues with self-harm and one of the things I have learnt is there is no single form, purpose or outcome of self-harm. The behaviours, and the outcomes vary hugely from person to person and though there may be some common themes and patterns, in most situations it is best viewed from the perspective of the individual who is using the self-harm to make sense of it.
Having said that, during this time, with experience, I hope I have managed to gain an understanding that has enabled me both as a psychotherapist and supervisor to approach the subject in a meaningful and helpful way. It has become an issue for a growing number of people, from all walks of life, facing all manner of different issues. Its prevalence is still on the increase, therefore it has never been more important for us all to have a clearer sense of how to engage in meaningful and helpful conversations.
Lesley Parker CTA, MSc (TA Psych), UKCP Reg, Dip Supervision.

Our expansion is complete

Part of our new reception area

One of our new counselling rooms

The building work to our new office space is finally finished and a week ahead of schedule as well!  Thanks to all at Orton Estates for making the transition as painless as possible for everyone here at RSVP, and for our clients too.  It all looks amazing and the comments we have received have been very complimentary.  We have two more counselling rooms, another kitchen for the groups, and a further office.  Our new training room now has windows, and our old training room has been divided into two, to become a filing/stationery room, and staff room.  The ISVA office has increased in size to accommodate our growing ISVA team.  And we have Vicky’s Room, our new children’s room, which will be decorated with the kind help from Vicky’s family.

Before the work began

Putting up the stud walling

West Midlands PCC Awards Funding

Good news! We have secured £80,000 funding from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, to support survivors of sexual violence and abuse. “We are delighted to have received this one off grant,” Lisa Thompson, Chief Executive of RSVP said. “This will make a big difference to our clients.”

We can now increase our helpline hours for crisis support, and increase our counselling hours, which will help reduce the time that people have to wait for counselling, currently 7 months, down to 4 months. To give extra self-help support we will also introduce a 10 week cope and recover group, to build people’s coping and self-help strategies. This therapeutic group will support clients to understand their symptoms and deal with the immediate effects of sexual violence and abuse.

“There can be life after being raped or abused,” says Lisa. “People do not forget what’s happened but they can learn to cope with the effects and turn their lives around. We are extremely grateful to the PCC and his Office for providing funding, to enable us to help even more people to turn their lives around.”

As one of our clients commented, “RSVP gave me the confidence to come forward and speak about what had happened to me. I am ready to live my new life now.”

BBC Children In Need Funding

We received great news in March, as we were notified that we’d been awarded a grant from BBC Children in Need of £102,396. This will be spent over 3 years and will provide independent advocacy support for sexually abused children and young people aged from 5 to 18 years. This funding is a 3 year extension and a continuation of a current 3 year grant, to help vulnerable youngsters to be better informed about their choices, whilst receiving specialist support after they’ve reported sexual abuse, sexual violence or childhood sexual exploitation.

“We’re delighted that BBC Children in Need have awarded us an extension to our current grant, meaning that our advocacy service will  be offered until at least 2019” said Lisa Thompson, Chief Executive of RSVP. “We’d also like to say a big thank you to all those fundraisers and supporters across the UK whose kind donations have helped to make this happen. This funding will help us make a real difference to the lives of children who have experienced a devastating trauma at an early age.”

Clients like this young person who told us, “Thank you for being there.  Your help meant I could attend court when I had to.  I had forgotten what my life was like before the sexual abuse happened. You made me realise my strengths instead.”

Working with Self-Harm

Spaces are available for a one-day training event on self-harm and trauma, on Friday 10th June in Birmingham city centre. This workshop is aimed at practitioners working with clients who self-harm. It is intended that by the end of the day practitioners will have an understanding of why people self- harm and how to approach the subject in a meaningful and useful manner. Practitioners will be encouraged to think about how they might assess the seriousness of the harm and offer alternatives for dealing with the issues their clients face.

Course outline

• Outline, Intros, expectations

• What is self-harm

• Functions of self-harm

• Understanding the behaviour

• Alternatives to self-harm

• Addressing other issues

• The Script System

• The Feelings Loop

• Feedback, closing remarks, endings.

Trainer: Lesley Parker MSc, CTA is a registered Psychotherapist and Supervisor with over 20 years’ experience of working with clients presenting with these issues amongst others. She currently works as a supervisor and also runs a small private practice offering training and supervision.

Tickets: £80 for voluntary organisations and individuals, £95 for statutory/private organisations. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.  Please note that we need 7 working days notice before the event for cancellation refunds.

For more information, and to book a place go to www.eventbrite.co.uk