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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.
"It was a feeling of being exactly where I needed to be" - C's Story
A few years ago at a check-up in her doctor’s surgery, C was handed a leaflet about support services for survivors of sexual violence. At the time, C had never heard of Rape Crisis and was surprised to hear the nurse talk about how common these services were.
“I always felt like I was walking about with this massive sign on my head that just said, ‘I've been raped’ and then it struck me how many other people must be feeling that too.”
C had never told anyone about what she had been through as a teenager but she wondered then that it was time to get in touch. Like so many survivors reaching out for support, this wasn’t an easy thing to do.
‘It’s that first really big intimidating step, the fear of the words coming out of my mouth was like admitting to myself what had happened when I hadn’t ever told anyone before, and it was really scary”.
Eventually, C picked up the phone. She was able to attend a drop-in session at her local Rape Crisis the same day, where she knew immediately that she had made the right decision.
“I came in and just instantly felt the comfort, like the feeling of walking into that building and just the atmosphere, the décor, it makes it feel like a nice warm cup of tea or like a gran’s hug.”
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