Earlier this week we told you about the Big Give Women and Girls Match Fund. We asked for your help in our work to keep specialist services open for survivors of rape and sexual violence.
This call for support asks you to donate, yes, but we also ask for your compassion and solidarity with survivors. To imagine a world without sexual violence, and to support our work to bring that vision to life.
The change survivors deserve
We want a better criminal justice system for survivors of sexual violence, and that’s exactly what we campaign for. We want better access to specialist support whenever they need it, for as long as they need it, and this is why our centres need more funding.
Our wider Rape Crisis network provide trauma-informed expert support in centres across England and Wales. The need is great – over 11,000 people are on waiting lists as I type this.
What happens to survivors when Rape Crisis centres close?
Emma, a former centre manager told us:
“Having been part of the process of winding down and ultimately closing a rape crisis centre earlier this year, I know first-hand just how devastating and heart-breaking this experience is.
Working alongside such a passionate and dedicated team, we had to reach out to over a thousand clients to explain that the service they relied on would no longer exist, a task that will stay with me forever.
I will never forget sitting in coffee mornings with survivors who described the centre as their only safe space, the one place where they felt able to leave their house each week.
Hearing those words made it painfully clear that services like these are not just beneficial, they are lifelines. The closure was not due to a lack of need, but a lack of sustainable funding.
This experience reinforced how critical it is that funding for specialist support services is prioritised, protected, and made long-term, because behind every statistic are real people whose recovery and safety depend on it.”
And despite this, three of our centres were forced to close in the last year. More are at risk.
What impact will this have on the very people who need them?
A survivor's perspective
*Lucy, a survivor told us:
“At 16, I didn’t know how to talk about what had happened to me or who I could possibly turn to for help. I knew deep down that what had happened wasn’t okay, but the person who hurt me was someone who was supposed to love me. I couldn’t understand how that could be, so for a long time I believed it must somehow have been my fault.
Everything changed when I came across a post from Rape Crisis on social media. Something about it resonated with me, it gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe there was someone out there who might believe me, who might understand. Reaching out for help was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it changed my life. For the first time, I didn’t feel alone. I began to understand that my feelings were valid, and that what happened was not my fault.
I will always carry the experience of abuse with me, but now I know that I can survive it - and I will. Without the support of my local centre, I genuinely don’t know if I would still be here today. Services like this don’t just offer counselling or advice- they offer safety, belief, and hope. They save lives. They saved mine.”
Specialist support services save lives
This is why it is vital that funding for specialist support services is protected and sustained, so that no survivor is left feeling alone, silenced, or without somewhere safe to turn.
A donation from you today could help in the fight to keep them open.
Take your solidarity further. Stand with survivors. Support our movement.