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'It's the difference between having quality of life and not'

Rape Crisis Scotland has published an evaluation of the impact of rape crisis services in Scotland.

In 2012 RCS commissioned an evaluation of support provided by the national helpline and local centres which included an assessment of the extent to which the national helpline and local rape crisis centres provide integrated support to survivors. The evaluation included interviews with local centres and survivors who described the support they received and the difference this made to them. Service users interviewed for the evaluation give a sense of the vital importance of rape crisis services:

‘It’s the difference between having quality of life and not.’

‘It’s been a lifeline – they are always there at the end of the phone. They gave me techniques to use to deal with flashbacks. I will never get rid of that in my mind but I’ve learned to focus on the positive and the things I enjoy.’

‘I can now manage to keep going. I know now that nothing bad is going to come out of it. One weekend I was frantic and really, really low. I texted their mobile and she phoned me and we talked.’

‘If you have years of things happening to you it becomes normal. You become so used to it. But being here helped me understand that it was so wrong. You have to learn to be a person again.’

You can download the full evaluation report here and related literature review here.