Blog
Ask an Advocacy Worker
Set up in 2016, the National Advocacy Project is a network of specialist Advocacy Workers from local Rape Crisis Centres in Scotland who help survivors to access justice. All 17 Rape Crisis Centres have Advocacy Workers, meaning that survivors can benefit from advocacy anywhere in Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands right down to the Borders.
As a relatively new service, many survivors who think about pursuing justice aren’t aware of advocacy work or what help is available to them.
We spoke with Jo and Dawn, two Advocacy Workers at Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH) in Inverness, to find out what Advocacy Workers want survivors to know.
Survivor Activism in the Highlands
“When the actual zines came back… wow.”
That was the reaction of Lorna, who took part in a zine making workshop, hosted by Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH) in Inverness, when she saw a printed copy of the zine she had helped to create.
Thoughts from a young activist on Equally Safe at School (ESAS)
-800.png)
Here at Rape Crisis Scotland, we know that education is key in preventing sexual violence. Yet, recent research has found that young people in Scotland are not getting the guidance they need from schools around healthy relationships, and instead young women and girls are turning to social media for advice or learning from their own (often negative) experiences.
Of the nearly 500 young women and girls surveyed in the Rise Report, not one participant described feeling well supported to learn about relationships at school. For many young people these findings came as no surprise.
When we talk about sexual violence, we must remember that survivors are in the room.
'When you say “I’m a survivor” everybody just stops in their tracks and doesn't know how to communicate with you. They could have known you for like, months and months and had great conversations but the minute you mentioned that it's like “oh, how do I talk to you?” I think that's down to the media because we aren't having that proper conversation.’
This comes from Lisa, a member of the Survivor Reference Group (SRG). The SRG is a diverse participation group of over 50 survivors from across Scotland who advocate powerfully for change, drawing on their lived experience with individuals and institutions to improve responses to sexual violence.
What is the Forensic Medical Services Act and what does it mean for survivors?
What is it?
The Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021 is a change in the law which came into effect on 1st April 2022, that changes the way that survivors can access Forensic Medical Exams (FMEs) after a rape or sexual assault.
An FME is an examination performed by a specially trained healthcare professional to collect forensic evidence after a rape or sexual assault. You can usually access an FME for up to 7 days after the assault(s). After this window, it is unlikely (but not impossible) that evidence could be gathered.
RSS
