Full Performance and Impact report 2022 2023

Our Performance and Impact 2022/2023

Contents

Overview

4

Survivor Support At a glance

6

Impact Survivor Voice Worker Experience Connect Live Helpline Service

32

At a glance Prevention, Training and Consultancy At a glance Impact Young People's Voice Worker Experience

33

Representing survivor and service experiences

45

Communicating to and with survivors, supporters and partners

47

The Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis Centre is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered in Scotland, company no SC127793. A Scottish Charity, no SCO06595.

All content © Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis 2023

Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis Helpline: Freephone 08088 00 00 14

2022 to 2027 Strategic Plan https://www.glasgowclyderapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/strategic-plan/

GCRC Digital https://www.glasgowclyderapecrisis.org.uk/ https://www.roseyproject.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/RCCGlasgow

The content in this document contains references to and detail on rape and sexual violence.

Reader discretion is advised.

Overview Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis (GCRC) launched our new 5-year Strategic Plan for 2022 to 2027.

This performance and impact report provides an insight into how well we have delivered services, represented survivor's experiences and diversity, trained organisations, and worked with young people, to assess how we have progressed with the strategic objectives outlined in our Strategic Plan for its first operational year - the period from 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Comparison to our performance and impact in our previous operational years is also provided.

Most importantly though, first-hand testimonies on the difference we have made to women and girls who asked for our help, is presented throughout. These sit alongside the experiences of workers who are by the side of survivors, and partners seeking our help.

Our objectives 1. To achieve the best outcomes for women and girls who have experienced sexual violence.

2. To contribute to the prevention of sexual violence and the ability of survivors to safely disclose their experience.

3. To campaign for social change that tackles the sexual inequality women and girls experience.

4. To embrace diversity and excellence within our workforce.

Support to survivors - at a glance We have supported 3,006 individual survivors across all of our services. This is a 16% increase from 2021/22, representing 420 survivors.

GCRC serves approximately 21% (1.3million people) of Scotland's total population. Of this 1.3 million, 663,000 are women and girls.

The majority of our support 57% (1,700 survivors) is provided to survivors from Glasgow city. With a population estimate of 628,000 people, Glasgow accounts for approximately 11% of Scotland's total.

With 51% of Glasgow's population being women or girls we aim to provide at least 55% of our services to survivors from Glasgow.

Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East and Dunbartonshire, and Inverclyde account for 10% of Scotland's total population. We aim to provide at least 45% of our services to survivors from these local authority areas.

2000 1800

1700

1600

1200 1000 800 600 400

350 210

200

ns ba rto

ar W es

tD

un

nb Du Ea st

yd e In ve rc l

hi

hi ns to

re w nf Re st Ea

42

e

ire sh

sh re w nf Re

as

go

w

ire

0

83

re

76

Gl

Number

1400

Almost 49% (1,473) of survivors we have supported in 2022/23 are between the age of 20 and 39 years. The oldest survivor we supported in this period was 80 years old, and the youngest 13 years old.

% of survivors supported

50

40

30 27.1 21.7

20

18.2 15.2

15

10 2.8

0 14-19

20-29

20-39

40-49

50-59

60 and over

Age

Women continue to represent the majority of survivors we support at 2,766 (92%). There has been no change in this operational year to 2021/22 levels of survivors we support who are men, 98 (3.27%) or transgender 16 (0.56%).

Woman Man Transgender Non-binary Non-disclosed 20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Survivors access our services through many different referral routes.

Self-referral levels of 1,043 survivors (34.73%) continues to account for the majority of these routes.

2.60%

3.90%

0.60%

0.90% 5.21% 4.90%

19.72%

17.82%

9.61% 34.73%

Local authority Education

Addiction services

NHS

Rape Crisis Scotland

Police

Counselling services

Voluntary organisation

Criminal Justice & Legal Services

Self

Disclosing ethnicity is always the choice of the survivors we support.

Approximately half of survivors supported in this period did share their ethnicity with us, and the majority identified as white (62.79%) African 4.79%

Arabic

2.03%

Asian 11.77%

Black Chinese Indian White

62.79%

15.56% 1.45% 1.60%

The nationality of survivors we support is incredibly diverse. Whilst the majority are from Scotland or elsewhere in the United Kingdom, during the 2022/23 operational period, we supported survivors from: Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Egypt, Greece, Grenada, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Salvador, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda and Vietnam.

Survivors who seek our support have experienced rape or sexual abuse for a variety of reasons. An experience of Rape accounts for 49% (1,473 survivors).

Female Genital Mutliation Online Abuse Stalking Sexual Assault

10%

20%

30%

40%

Forced Marriage Grooming Childhood Sexual Abuse Rape Sexual Exploitation

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

The rape or sexual abuse takes place in a variety of locations, including care homes, hospitals, entertainment venues, public transport and in the survivor's or perpetrator's home.

Whilst many believe that rape and sexual violence is predominantly a one-off experience, our evidence shows this is not the case with 34% (1,022) of survivors experiencing on-going sexual violence for one year or more.

One-off

Less than 1 year

1 to 3 years

6+ years

4 to 6 years

Postcodes

With Glasgow having the highest population in Scotland, and the most zones (almost 50% of the city) in the top 20% most deprived areas in the country, it's vital that GCRC reaches survivors who need our help in these zones. During 2022/23 we have prioritised survivors from the G20, G21 and G22 postcode area, with the communities in these areas traditionally not accessing our help as easily. Survivors from these areas accounted for 16.3% (277) of all survivors supported in Glasgow, compared to an average of 1% (19 survivors) in prior years. This is an increase of 258 survivors.

G1 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15 G2 G20 G21 G22 G23 G3 G31 G32 G33 G34 G4 G40 G41 G42 G43 G44 G45 G46 G5 G51 G52 G53 G60 G61 G62 G64 G65 G66 G69 G73 G76 G77 G78 G81 G82 G83 G84 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

% of survivors from Glasgow overall

8

9

Our success in reaching these communities has been aided by altering our service delivery approach from one that was predominantly city centre based, meaning survivors have to come to where we are, to one that is now community based too. With 7 local bases now consistently present in these community areas, we know this model is vital to providing survivors with the support they need, when they need it.

Across the other five local authority areas we operate within, we have also increased our community based services from one (in Clydebank serving West Dunbartonshire) to 5 with the addition of Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire now benefiting from local based services provided by GCRC. We now operate local based direct services in all the local authority areas we support, which we have not done previously.

We have had 25,351 contact points with survivors. A contact point includes a phone call, message, email, video call or WhatsApp. This has increased by 30% (5,868) from 2021/22.

Over the course of 2022/23 we have significantly improved the average number of days a survivor who is not in immediate crisis, would wait for our emotional and therapeutic support service, our Ruby service for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities, and for young survivors between the age of 13 and 18 years. At the beginning of 2022 operational year, we changed the waiting list for young survivors to remove those between 19 and 25 years old. This was to ensure we provided an immediate response to young people who had disclosed as a result of a prevention or training session with GCRC, or who were experiencing current or historical abuse as a young person.

Av. no. working days wait March 2022 Av. no. working days wait March 2023 400 372

300

No. of days

300

218 200

185

100

20

3

e ic

t pp or

Tr ia

or st

Su

t

ge

3

pp Ru

al io n Em ot

by

Su

e ic rv Se

Su

pp

Tr ia

or t

ge

8

Ro se y

10

0

Ju

25

Waiting List Type

Survivors requiring justice support will always be triaged and offered a service within 3 days.

It is important to note that throughout the year actual waiting times do fluctuate for most of our services depending on demand levels and resource availability. It is helpful however for service and resource modelling to compare average times at the start of each operational year.

Impact

Advocacy in Justice: Support to Report Service 696 survivors supported by 5 workers 21.15% of total support provided Type something 278 survivors' experience evaluated

· 75% of survivors supported, rated the service they received as excellent. · 75% of survivors said they strongly agree that they felt safe and relaxed with their worker. · 62% of survivors strongly agree that they felt well-informed about the services GCRC could offer them. · 88% of survivors strongly agree that their knowledge of the criminal justice system was improved because of the support they received from GCRC. · 75% of survivors strongly agree that their worker focused on what was important to them whilst navigating the complexities of the criminal justice system. · 88% of survivors agree or strongly agree that the support sessions were empowering for them.

Survivor voice: Justice Support My worker was amazing, she was with me from the start and helped me so much, especially through the

court proceedings. She is a true asset to her team and I can't thank her enough for supporting me and so many others through what was, for me, the most anxious and debilitating period of my life.

Thank you for everything today. Just what I needed.

Be lost without you.

Feeling much better about going to court.

I understand more about what happened to me. I think I am slowly getting some things back. Everything takes longer than I thought it would.

I felt I was unable to get information from anywhere despite trying multiple numbers. I was very thankful to have your help. It was very good.

Worker experience: Justice Project It has taken a few false starts for us to be able to have recurrent workshop sessions at the Lilias Centre. On occasions, we would be coming in on days where the women were at their work placements, or were at court, or they had already had a long workshop in the morning. We were also for a period of time turning up at the same time as the therapy dog, which while a lovely thing for us, was not conducive to creating a focused environment/space for us to have a workshop. The split focus that these issues created meant that for some sessions, we would turn up and no women would come through to see us, or maybe just one woman would show up.

In addition, we faced barriers for attendance due to the use of our name ‘Rape Crisis’. We found that women were really reluctant even to be seen talking with us due to the associations of our name. We changed our name to ‘Heal to Thrive’ and this was a really important change. It is now Heal to Thrive which is advertised around the centre and on the women’s weekly planners. After one of our more recent sessions, a woman said to us that she was really glad we changed our name, and that she would come to our sessions now.

We were persistent in making sure we addressed what we needed to, to ensure engagement. Despite the issues we encountered, we continued to go into the centre and liaise with the officers there in order to make our sessions more successful. We knew that going in consistently and having the women seeing us show up would be helpful in building relationships.

We have now turned a corner and had a positive and impactful session recently.

Seven out of nine women attended our workshop where we had sourced donated products from Lush. We did a session on pressure points, which was interactive and allowed the women to use their Lush products to learn calming self-care practices. I also performed a guided mediation to relaxing music that engaged all of the women and created a calming atmosphere. The women were really interested and invested in what we were doing and saying.

Our most recent session was also really successful. We did a session on crystals, where the women chose a crystal card face down on the table.

The crystals that the women chose by random were all very applicable to them and the things they were going through. By using the crystals, we provided a space where the women began to open up about what was happening in their lives. One of the younger women at the centre made really good progress in sharing something fearful that she was going through, so it feels like we managed to create a safe space where the women could be open and honest with themselves and each other. The women enjoyed the session so much that they want to focus on crystals next session too. Before we left the centre, they even went to get one of the officers to join in too and pick out a crystal card.

We are currently still negotiating a consistent day of the week where we will be coming in but the centre has now got a new events team and they seem eager for us to continue to come into the centre. We have also asked the women to think of some themes that they want to cover in our workshops, to make sure that the sessions are engaging and tailored to them.

Worker experience: Justice Project I supported a survivor to complete a Victims' Right to Review, after an incredibly long and frustrating court process where the woman had been let down repeatedly by criminal justice system. She was told after three years that they would not be able to proceed, after several trial dates had been set and postponed.

The last option open to the woman was completing a Victims Right to Review, which she did not feel able to complete without support. She had been consistently retraumatised by the criminal justice system; with support she was able to complete and submit the victims right to review within timeframe required by the criminal justice system, she feels empowered that she has done everything she is capable of to effect an outcome.

The current result is that her review has been dismissed and the Crown will not be progressing with a trial.

Worker experience: Justice Project This survivor was referred to our centre in November 2022 through a direct police referral. She had already provided two statements to the police, where she became emotionally distressed, so she was offered more support. Due to the urgent nature of the referral, she was contacted by a Triage worker the day after being referred and was put on the Support to Report waiting list. The survivor was allocated an advocacy worker, and the first phone and then face-to-face contact happened a week after she was first referred. The survivor had been through a domestic abuse situation, where her ex-partner was physically, psychologically, sexually, and financially abusive. She was incredibly nervous when I first met her at our centre, and she advised that she had panicked during her first two statements and needed some support before completing the rest of them.

Through GCRC’s partnership with the Glasgow Police, I was able to get in direct contact with the investigating sexual offences liaison officer (SOLO) and arrange the survivor’s next statement at our centre. This meant that the survivor would have end-to-end support from a Support to Report advocacy worker, supporting her through the remaining statements and through the case’s progression through the criminal justice system. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this statement needed to be postponed, and then the location rearranged due to a snowstorm closing the building the GCRC centre is in. I was able to liaise with the SOLOs on behalf of the survivor, whilst keeping her at the centre of the decision making, and made arrangements with the survivor and the police to head to her local police station, as she did not want to postpone it any longer.

When we first started working together, the survivor had been unsure about me coming into the statements with her as she felt shame around what she had been through and did not want others to know. In the period of time between meeting and the statement, I was able to build her trust in the working relationship, following through on my word and effectively advocating for her, whilst utilising GCRC’s main values of integrity, compassion and empathy. She advised she wanted support through the statement, which she was glad of as she was very nervous throughout.

The survivor thought this would be her last statement, but she advised she needed to report more sexual crimes, and the police officers were not SOLO trained, so she was told that she would need to make another statement.

The week after the statement at the police station, I organised with the police for the SOLO statement to take place in our centre. Both the survivor and the police came in first thing in the morning, and the survivor got this completed. The survivor did well throughout this; this was the survivor’s last official statement, and she was quite shocked that it had taken four statements and an approximate 15 hours to complete them all.

After this statement, the survivor stayed in the centre for a one-to-one session with me.

She had questions around the next steps (evidence gathering, witness statements, Procurator Fiscal process, and court), and I was able to answer these to ease some of her anxieties. I reassured the survivor that her emotions around this overwhelming process were all completely natural. At this time, I organised for the survivor to get some crisis support from a member of our emotional support team, to help her develop healthier coping strategies and manage her emotions. She engaged in a few sessions, but then fell away from this support.

I had continuous contact with the survivor over the next few months into 2023. During this time, her trust in our working relationship grew as she was able to confide in me about her mental health and the struggles in her close relationships without feeling like she was a burden. She had to provide numerous pieces of evidence to the police, but she was struggling to go through her phone and laptop when she was home alone, so I suggested she came into the centre to do this. She was able to send over the evidence, and was grateful that she was able to get support through revisiting those times in her life.

The police asked to meet with the survivor, so I organised doing this in our centre once more. The investigating officer advised me that she needed to ask the survivor some difficult questions about the evidence she provided, and asked me how she would react. I advised that if the police officer was honest about why she was asking, then the survivor would understand.

The survivor was visibly distressed during this statement as she advised she felt like she wasn’t being believed, and that the police thought she was lying. After the police left, the survivor advised that she felt like she was going to go into a mental health spiral, and I asked what we could do to support her through this. We spoke about more crisis support, and she advised that would be good.

The survivor went through a period of minimal contact, but I made sure to check in with her due to the risk of her saying she would spiral. She kept in contact and advised she needed some space. The survivor then got back in contact on her own accord, and is engaging well with continual crisis support, and advocacy support as and when she needs it.

Impact

Support - Ruby Project 303 survivors supported by 3 workers 10.07% of total support provided 121 survivors' experience evaluated

· 100% of survivors supported, rated the service they received as excellent. · 33% of survivors said they strongly agree that they felt safe and relaxed with their worker, with 67% agreeing. · 67% of survivors strongly agree that they felt well-informed about the services GCRC could offer them. · 67% of survivors strongly agree that their understanding of their trauma and its impact had increased · 67% of survivors strongly agree that their worker focused on what was important to them. · 100% of survivors agree or strongly agree that their mental health and well-being has improved because of the support they received.

Survivor voice: Ruby Support I don't have low self esteem anymore and being comfortable around people has improved a lot.

I love myself and I can say No when I don’t want someone or something.

I am able to understand myself better and not blame myself.

Just having someone there for the support has helped me get through my struggles dramatically the centre saved my life , I’m so grateful for the support and the support other victims receive.

I was instantly comfortable speaking/sharing with my worker which is a little unusual for me.

Worker experience: Ruby Project The survivor self-referred to this service because she wanted to heal from the trauma she experienced as a child and then again when she was 18. Survivor is from BAME background and is a Portuguese national, she has lived in UK since 2013, she had a job she loved and had plenty of friends and hobbies, however her mental health significantly deteriorated. She suffers from severe depression and social anxiety, she believes that it developed because of unresolved trauma.

The first sessions took place over the phone. However, I did encourage her to come into the centre. During the initial sessions she spoke about the abuse she experienced and how it has impacted her, she also discussed the complicated relationship she has with her mother. One of the perpetrators is her mother’s partner, and she thinks her mother may know what happened, but she is afraid to speak to her about this. When her mental health deteriorated, her mother dismissed her and made her feel worse about herself. In the sessions we discussed her life in Portugal.

Religion became also an important part of the sessions, as she found it helpful to focus on her faith but she also sees how it also can impact her negatively. I approached this sensitive issue with compassion and empathy as this is something that we often come across in working with survivors from BAME backgrounds. She struggles with selfconfidence and motivation, as well as a negative self-image.

Impact 2,007 survivors supported by 8 workers and 5 volunteers ·

66.76% of total support provided

Emotional Support and Triage Service

1,505 survivors' experience evaluated · 92% of survivors supported, rated the service they received as excellent. · 90% of survivors said they strongly agree that they felt safe and comfortable taking sessions in our support suites. · 100% of survivors strongly agree that they felt wellinformed about the services GCRC could offer them. · 75% of survivors strongly agree that their understanding of their trauma and its impact had increased · 83% of survivors strongly agree that they felt empowered during sessions. · 58% of survivors felt there was a delay in their support starting when they needed it.

Survivor voice: Emotional Support When I first started my healing process nothing inside of me had the energy to reach out for help. And there are a billion different reasons why one wouldn’t want to do that, maybe you’re scared, tired of having to deal with it, embarrassed, you don’t think it will change anything, but it does. You are taking the power back into your hands by allowing yourself space to heal, you are standing up for yourself and that sometimes is part of the healing in itself. It took me about two months to decide to reach out for help, two months I felt like my life was falling more and more apart, my grades were suffering, and my relationships were suffering, you never fully understand the toll something like this takes on your life until you go through it.

I’ve always been an outgoing and cheerful person but after going through sexual assault I felt quite hopeless and tired of everything.

That certainly changed once I started the therapy sessions, I’m slowly but steadily regaining my old self, learning how to cope with triggers and life in general. I’ve learned to be there for myself when I felt like I was most alone in the world, and you can certainly do that too. The choice of getting this support was certainly the glimpse of hope I was searching for in the moments of despair I was feeling and having this opportunity helped me learn healthier coping mechanisms while putting my life back into place. I hope that if you’re reading this, you will decide to take this step for yourself because it does get better, and you deserve to feel at peace with yourself again.

Survivor voice: Emotional Support Before I reached out to Rape Crisis, I had no idea that I was even in need of this kind of counselling. I came forward after four years of nightmares, flashbacks, and panic attacks and met with the lovely people of RC. I instantly felt relaxed in my sessions, and I found a

safe place to talk about what I went through, and had someone validate my experiences and feelings. Counselling was hard but it was always something I looked forward to each week, because I knew I was finally getting the help I deserved. I found it helped me have difficult conversations that I had once avoided. I was able to set boundaries, and started to understand myself a little better. Since finishing my sessions, I’ve grown a lot more understanding of my needs, and become more compassionate towards myself.

Admitting what I went through was something I had not come to terms with until recently, and the sessions really supported me in accepting it, as well as finding ways to talk about it, let out my emotions, and find ways to cope better. My nightmares are lessened, I don’t panic every time I leave my house now, and I’m slowly starting to get my life back. I couldn’t thank RC and the team enough, I felt like I was talking to my most trusted friend in every session, and I would not be where I am today without their support.

It was the first step in changing my life for the better.

Survivor voice: Emotional Support I feel less shame.

Thank you for listening to me and supporting me through such a tough part of my life.

I like coming to the centre as it makes me feel safe and comforted and I never feel judged.

These sessions make a big difference each time.

You are the only person that I can be completely honest with, you make me feel safe and you never judge me regardless of what I say.

I love coming into the centre, all the staff make me feel

welcome. I could sit in here all day as the atmosphere is so calming.

Thank you for the tools, I cope better.

I have noticed many positive changes.

Worker experience: Emotional support A young woman came to us for support. She was sexually abused from the age of 3 years old, by her stepbrother. She comes from an Asian background and previously felt unable to reach out for support. She has always experienced a lack of self-esteem and confidence, unable to trust people. She feels let down by her family who are not supportive and do not believe her, she is made to feel as if she is letting her family down.

She is very tearful when she is attending her support sessions during which we worked through issues such as coping skills and grounding techniques. We have put a lot of work into safety planning and establishing stronger boundaries for herself as far as family and friends were concerned.

We prioritised self-care as part of her recovery and utilised other tools such as essential oils for grounding skills. She used a journal, which she would bring to sessions and choose whether or not she shared what she had written or drawn.

In a recent review she stated ’we provided her a with safe place, nonjudgemental space and she was able to share things she hasn’t been able to with anyone.’

Worker experience: Emotional support A survivor reached out to GCRC in 2022 for emotional support after coming to the realisation she needed to process what had happened to her in her childhood as well as a recent rape. She was 38 years old when she contacted us and found the older she was getting the harder it was becoming to suppress the memories from her childhood.

We discussed support needs and decided the best way to begin was with a timeline. This allowed her to unpack difficult memories of sexual abuse from her dad in her childhood. We explored trauma and the brain and the reasons why she experiences fight/flight/freeze responses at different times in her life.

She also felt very disconnected from her body and this was something she felt was vital in her healing journey in order to move forward. As we continued the timeline it led to her recent rape and the impacts that has had on her in terms of trust, low self-esteem, self-blame and nightmares.

We explored the impacts over the remaining sessions and she had a better understanding as to why she was feeling the way she was.

Towards the end of support she arranged her first swimming lesson which was a big achievement as her dad would take her swimming when she was younger and this had been a negative experience for her.

Connect Live Helpline Service - at a glance

Individual contacts

We have helped 1,887 people through our connect live phone, messenger and email service. This is an increase of 12% from 2021/22. This help was provided across 835 hours.

1680

1877

No. of hours

780

0

835 500

1000

1500

2000

Number 2021/22

2022/23

The Connect Live Service was supported by 5 regular volunteers who have undertaken GCRC's bespoke training programme and also staff from GCRC. A new cohort of volunteers began our training programme in 2022/23's intake, with 14 starting and 8 completing it.

Prevention, training and consultancy at a glance We reached 3,164 individuals across all of our prevention, training and consultancy work in schools, further and higher education, and within public and private organisations.This is a 21% increase from 2021/22, representing an additional 546 people.

A total of 2,672 young people in secondary schools across the 6 local authority areas we operate within have benefitted from our Prevention Programme.

1100 1000

978 908

900 800

786

700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Glasgow

Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire & Inverclyde

East & West Dunbartonshire

In addition to our activity in secondary schools, we have also worked with 18 community based youth-groups, to deliver 22 workshops benefitting 107 young people who have additional needs and delivery requirements.

Our prevention activity works with young people in school and youth group settings on a variety of areas relating to gender based violence, including consent, pornography, cultural understandings, stereotyping and relationships.

An additional 172 people from public, private and higher and further education organisations have been reached with a variety of training and bespoke consultancy focused services. These are organisations in our operational area in Scotland, as well as from across the United Kingdom and worldwide.

Bystander Bespoke consultancy 44.68%

Bystander 8.83%

First Responder Supporting survivors investigator Bespoke consultancy

investigator 3.90% First Responder 36.88% Supporting survivors 5.71%

Across the six local authority areas we operate within, we have reached young people and individuals in a total of 31 schools, 18 youth groups, four colleges/universities and 8 charities or other organisations.

Worldwide, we have worked with represenatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office of the U.K. Government and with staff from British Consulates, national governments, police, health and women's support and advocacy organisations in Greece, Turkey, the Balearic Islands, U.S.A., Madrid and East, South and West Africa.

Impact 2,779 young people participated Delivered by 4 workers

Prevention and youth work

1,085 young people's experience evaluated

· 95% of young people better understand what the law says about consent. · 94% of young people understand that people have the right to change their mind about taking part in any sexual activity at any time. · 92% of young people understand more about the importance of sexual partners respecting each other’s feelings and wishes. · 87% of young people better understand that it is not ok to share nudes of people under 18 without their consent. · 93% of young people feel better able to recognise sexual harassment online and avoid joining in. · 80% of young people know where a friend could go for support if they told them they have been raped or sexually assaulted. · 90% of young people believe young people should have education on these issues. · 83% of young people better understand what consent means.

Young people's voice: Prevention I thought the workshop was very good, it brought light upon many things that people might not have considered sexual violence and it was very educational.

[I learned] That sexual violence can come in many forms and that there is a place for people to come to after a situation involving sexual violence.

[The workshop] it was better than what health and well-being [classes] usually is like.

[I learned] That it is not your fault that you have been sexually harassed.

[I learned] The real meaning of consent which is needed even in healthy long-term relationships.

Like how they didn’t sugar coat anything.

Appreciated the openness and honesty in the workshop.

Worker experience: Youth Groups We were asked to provide a consent workshop with a group of young women through a new partnership. We were advised that within the group there were various GBV issues including rape/sexual assault by penetration, coercive/unhealthy relationships and commercial sexual exploitation.

After much discussion with the new partnership around the needs of the group and what they were looking for the group to gain from the workshop, we were able to look towards tailoring a workshop for them.

Working together closely with the Service Manager and prevention colleagues we were able to adapt a workshop that was inclusive and engaging for the young women, making sure that at every stage their experiences were taken into account to ensure we carried out a trauma informed workshop.

The workshop was carried out at their usual group setting to ensure they felt it was a safe space. There were workers from the group present too to make sure if anyone needed to take any time out there were staff available if needed.

Worker experience: Prevention During a school workshop, a group of young men were arguing that catcalling was part of the Scottish culture, defining it as “banter” to be expected from locals. I first encouraged the class to share their opinions about their statement, asking to disagree or offer criticism in a respectful manner.

Some young women in the room felt confident enough to voice their own experiences of being verbally harassed on the streets and how bad it felt.

Other female students nodded along. However, most of the young men in the classroom seemed either doubtful or completely siding with the statement made by the other young men. Because of the age of the students in the classroom and the maturity showed by them so far, I decided to challenge their view on what they saw as culturally appropriate by starting to talk about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

As I was describing this Gender Based Violence (GBV) practice, the classroom started to show sympathy for FGM survivors and voiced their shock on learning of its existence. When the young men who initially justified catcalling, spoke aloud their disapproval and disgust, I decided it was time to challenge them. I started saying that it was part of the local culture and that people saw it as culturally acceptable.

Moreover, it was culturally accepted not allowing young girls and women to study in Afghanistan or to drive and walk alone in Saudi Arabia. I further challenged them saying that if it was the culture, it had to be dismissed and seen as okay. As the whole class disagreed, one of the male pupils voiced that despite catcalling was not as physically violent as FGM or limiting as removing education to young women, he disapproved of such “cultures” and voiced his reflection on how he never thought about it in that way.

When I asked to the group of young men who initially justified catcalling, they were less vocal than before and appeared deep in their thoughts. In that moment, I knew I made them reflect on what they had deemed acceptable if not normal, for their whole lives.

Impact

First-responder training I have a better understanding of what is defined as Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Scotland 92.31% of respondents agreed.

I am more aware of the prevalence of GBV in Scotland and how difficult it can be for survivors to disclose.

92.31% of respondents agreed.

I have a better understanding of the law in Scotland in relation to GBV. 100% of respondents agreed.

I have a better understanding of the impacts of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) 100% of respondents agreed.

I have a better understanding of the key principles of Trauma Informed Practice and its importance when supporting survivors of GBV. 100% of respondents agreed.

I have a better understanding of my role as a First Responder and my crucial response in a survivor’s recovery.

100% of respondents agreed.

I am more aware of what my responsibilities are when encouraging safe boundaries.

100% of respondents agreed.

I am more aware of how I can be affected by vicarious trauma and what to do if I feel this is happening.

100% of respondents agreed

Worker experience: Training

We were approached by the Equality and Diversity Officer (EDO) at a higher education institution. They are currently building their first GBV Network to respond to disclosures of sexual violence, including developing GBV First Responders and their GBV Policy.

We started off with having a meeting with the EDO and assessing the specific needs of the students and staff. As a lot of their students, especially the acting and dance students are often in situations that could be described as intimate the EDO was keen that there was a clear message around appropriate behaviours and language and a zerotolerance approach to GBV. They were also developing their GBV Policy from scratch and asked to consult with them over the content and language used. So, this was a very timely conversation and partnership building experience.

As the EDO was working on the GBV Policy we progressed to planning and facilitating GBV First Responder Training. As a lot of the staff work outside of the institution, they asked if we could facilitate a hybrid training event; we hadn’t done this before. There were two groups created after interest was expressed, a daytime and evening group, both consisting of around ten trainees, some in-person and some online. After some technical challenges we managed to facilitate the whole training this way.

From a trainer’s point of view, it seemed a little disjointed at times but the feedback from trainees was positive and those joining online expressed an appreciation of being able to take part in the training. Overall, it was one of the best evaluations we have had for the GBV First Responder Training.

We continue to be a partner with this institution and will feed into their GBV Network meetings as well as continuous training and will continue to offer advice and support around their polices. We will also be working with the first years, presenting a Sexual Consent interactive discussion with over 200 students in September.

Representing survivor and service experiences - at a glance It's important for GCRC to ensure the experiences of survivors and the evidence from our services and expertise is used to pursue progressive change in the political, economic, social and legal/policy landscape women and girls live their lives within.

Throughout 2022/23 we have prioritised our representation focus to ensure local and national forums and government processes, have our information and resulting recommendations on how to understand and address the demand on our services, and to redress the policy, funding, justice and legal systems that are contributing to the inequality experienced by women and girls. We know this inequality correlates directly to the continued societal tolerance of the instances of rape and sexual abuse they experience.

We have both continued or joined partnerships and forums outwith the rape crisis network to pursue this aim. This includes: Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum.

 Standing Group - Violence Against Women and Girls Glasgow. Coalition for Sex Equality for Women and Girls. Violence Against Women and Girls Partnerships in each local authority area we operate within. Health and Social Care Partnerships in each local authority area we operate within.

Throughout 2022/23 we have responded directly to national consultations on: The Independent Review of Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against Women and Girls Services.

Victim, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill Scotland.

 

GCRC has also ensured that the experiences of survivors and our services are used to influence: The strategic and operational delivery of the national advocacy project overseen by Rape Crisis Scotland.

Police Scotland's referral processes to prevent survivors from repeating their experiences and instances of re-traumatisation.

The operational delivery method of the national prevention programme to focus more on long-term attitudinal change with young people in schools.

The safeguarding of single-sex service provision.

   

To achieve the outreach and community based service provision outlined in 'Support to survivors- At a glance' section of this report, we secured new and positive relationships with Health and Social Care Partnerships, Housing Associations, Community Centres, local Voluntary and Charity organisations and councillors to work in partnership together to deliver on this.

Communicating to and with survivors, supporters and partners - at a glance Throughout 2022/23 we reviewed, reimagined and redesigned all aspects of our communications - from digital, to social, to print, to in person - and we are now more confident in our ability to reach survivors and partners.

We rebranded, based on survivor and partner feedback that we could and should improve the warmth, accessibility and openness of our logo, our premises, our website and our marketing.

We reflected on how we present as a united voice, to ensure that whoever a survivor works with or knows at GCRC, they can be confident that they represent GCRC's vision, purpose and positions with both passion and accuracy.

We have become more proactive across different digital and social media channels to improve our ability to reach survivors and supporters of all ages and stages.

The Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis Centre is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered in Scotland, company no SC127793. A Scottish Charity, no SCO06595.

All content © Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis 2023