Edinburgh Women's Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre
  |
Address |
PO Box 120
Brunswick Road
Edinburgh
EH7 5WX |
Tel (helpline) |
0131 556 9437 |
Tel (business
) |
0131 557 6737 |
Minicom |
0131 557 6757 |
Fax |
0131 558 1612 |
Helpline Opening Hours |
Check answering machine for opening hours. |
Email |
support@ewrasac.org.uk for support.
info@ewrasac.org.uk for admin. |
Website |
We are currently developing our website and welcome any thoughts on what information you would like it to include. Please email us at: anna.carr@ewrasac.org.uk
with your suggestions. |
Donate |
 |
Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
If you would like us to send you free copies of any of our leaflets or information packs please contact us on 0131 557 6737 or email us at info@ewrasac.org.uk. We will send them out to you in an unmarked envelope.
Who we are
Since 1978 Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (formerly Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre) has provided emotional and practical support, information, advice and advocacy to thousands of women and girls aged 12 and over, who have experienced sexual violence at any times in their lives. This includes rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse and other forms of sexual violence.
The centre is run by women for women. All workers are trained to a high standard and share the feminist view that violence against women is an abuse of power and should not happen.
We are a specialist agency providing services to survivors of sexual violence in Central and South East Scotland. We are often the first or only agency contacted by female survivors in the area.
How we work
We work to empower women: to support women to find and make their own choices. This means that we will not tell you what to do. We can give you information and support, but we believe that you are the expert in your own life – not us.
We will listen, believe and support a woman of any age, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religious and cultural background.
We offer free and confidential support. This means that what you tell us remains confidential within our support team. We will not tell anyone you are being supported. We will not give anyone any information about you, unless you want us to.
There are some circumstances, however, when we are required by law to share information with other agencies. A support worker will always discuss this with you first. If you need more information on our confidentiality policy, please phone us or speak to a support worker.
Our services are open to women and girls aged 12 and over who have experienced any form of sexual violence, at any time in their lives.
Our activities
We offer a telephone helpline. The line is open at different times. When the line is not staffed, the answering machine will tell you the times of the next lines. You can either call back then, or leave us a message and we will call you back. We will not say who we are when we call unless we speak to you directly, and our telephone number is always withheld. You can also use the helpline for ongoing telephone support.
If you are a hearing impaired, support can be provided through a minicom or via type talk. If English is not your first language we can arrange for an interpreting service.
Individual face-to-face sessions.
When you contact us we will offer you a one-to-one support session if you want this. You can use this time to talk about what you want, and we can talk through what we have to offer or other sources of support. After this, if you would like long-term support, you can go on the waiting list.
Group support
From time to time we run support groups with other survivors. These are facilitated by two of our workers and provide opportunities to meet with other survivors and share experiences and support.
Referral information
We do not accept referrals from third parties. This means that we ask you to contact us directly, as we believe it is important that it is your own choice to access our services.
Friends, family, partners and other supporters
We offer telephone support, information and advice to anyone who is supporting a woman or girl aged 12 or over who has experienced sexual violence. If you are a worker in another voluntary or statutory agency, you may also be interested in accessing training from us.
Men and boys
We do not offer ongoing support to male survivors. However, we can offer limited helpline support and provide information on services for male survivors.
Training and consultancy
We provide high quality training and consultancy to workers in other agencies who work with female or male survivors of sexual violence at your workplace or a venue which suits you. We also run a series of one-day training courses for workers which include:
● Awareness raising on rape and sexual assault
● The impact of sexual violence: survivors and workers
● Ritual abuse
Full course details and information about fees and booking a place can be found in our new 2008-2009 training programme.
Click here to download our Training Calendar for 2008-09.
Please contact us on 0131 557 6737 for further information about our training and consultancy services.
Campaign and awareness-raising
We aim to change attitudes about violence against women and improve services and legal provision for female survivors. We work in partnership with other groups at local and national level, offer talks to schools and community groups and get involved in a variety of other activities as part of working towards our goal of ending violence against women.
We have produced 6 postcards and posters as part of the 16 days to End Violence Against Women in conjunction with Truth About Rape. They highlight the myths which exist within society about rape and sexual abuse and the prevalence of violence against women. If you would like to request a poster to display please contact us on (0131) 557 6737 or email info@ewrasac.org.uk.
Supporting our work
You can support our work by:
● Believing a woman or girl who tells you she’s been assaulted.
● Supporting her to make her own choices about what she wants to do.
● Challenging abusive behaviour or views which promote violence.
Please contact us if you have any questions about any of our services.
