I am a trustee of a charity called The Green House (formally the Avon Sexual Abuse Centre) which provides psychotherapeutic counselling for victims of sexual abuse both children, women and men.
Our children’s service has not one penny of statutory funding and yet most of our referrals are from the statutory sector (discuss . . . )
For a city the size of Bristol and the surrounding area (the 6th biggest city in England) its a scandal that this is the only service offering this support for the entire city.
Its not just that we need funding and support but the appalling indications that this gives us to the prioritisation of victims. Whether it is one-to-one sessions or group work the resources are urgently needed.
There is a lot of good work going on in this country, scoping, researching and advocating for victims in this situation but, for some reason, Bristol seems to be a bit of a desert.
What is it like where you are? Have you similar organisations whose work is as uphill as this? Everyone says that the charity is doing excellent work and the people are highly trained and professional so isn’t it about time we consolidated this work, cut down the waiting list and did not discriminate against victims any further? Let me know.
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