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
Trauma-related Complex Dissociation – Origins & Consequences
Spaces are now available for a one day training event delivered by First Person Plural, the dissociative identity disorders association.The event will take place in Birmingham city centre on Thursday 26th May.
This event on trauma related dissociation is suitable for any professional working with vulnerable people. Complex dissociation will affect individuals’ needs, their relationship with supporters and how they respond to any supportive or treatment intervention. Thus, an access level of understanding will be beneficial to anyone working in primary health care (including GPs), mental health, education, supported living, domestic abuse, drug/alcohol services, rape & sexual violence / childhood abuse services, criminal justice or social and pastoral care in the statutory, voluntary or private sector.
Counsellors, psychotherapists and similar, including those who already have some training and experience of working with dissociative clients, have found this training day a useful addition to their learning. Well supported stable survivors who have a complex dissociative disorder, and their family and friends may find the course a useful psycho-educational resource.
Learning Objectives:
- To raise awareness of dissociation and its role in surviving abuse or trauma.
- To introduce the dissociation continuum and the spectrum of dissociative disorders, including dissociative identity disorder (DID)
- To understand the reality of living with dissociative identity disorder
- To explore practical ways of supporting people who experience complex dissociation
Tickets: £75 for voluntary orgnanisations and individuals, £90 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
Vacancy: LGBT ISVA
RSVP are recruiting a LGBT Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA) to support and empower people affected by, and those vulnerable to, sexual coercion, sexual violence and sexual exploitation. The LGBT ISVA will support survivors accessing Umbrella Sexual Health services across Birmingham and Solihull and work closely with Birmingham LGBT Centre to coordinate, design and provide a targeted service for the LGBT community.
This is a part-time post, 19 hours per week.
It is essential you have experience of working with victims of sexual violence, and some knowledge of the criminal justice system, although training will be given. Successful applicants will be required to start immediately.
The deadline for applications is 5pm Sunday 3rd April 2016.
Read more about RSVP’s ISVA service.
Download the job advert
Download the LGBT ISVA Job Description
Download the application form
Survey – outreach clients
As part of our ongoing feasibility study into outreach services, which we ‘re hoping will result in more RSVP services being made available in local outreach posts, we’re looking for client feedback on our services.
If you have accessed RSVP counselling via Dove Medical Centre, Castle Vale Childrens Centre, SIAS (Solihull Integrated Addiction Services) or Solihull and Chelmsley Wood Citizens Advice Bureaus we’d really appreciate it if you can complete this online survey.
www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RSVPoutreach
All responses are anonymous. Your feedback will help us to shape and grow services in the future.