UK sexual violence and abuse charity wins award

Summary of story from Guardian, December 21, 2011

The Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (Crasac) has won a Guardian charity award for its work with thousands of women each year.

The charity runs a helpline, a counselling service and therapy groups for adults and children, helping 3,500 women, men and children every year.

Crasac says this number is rising by 20-25% annually. “We help people move from victim to survivor of sexual violence,” says chief executive, Dianne Whitfield.

For 30 years the charity has helped people aged 11 and older but Ms Whitfield says they need to start helping children as young as five.

“We’re getting more and more referrals through for children aged five and over who have experienced rape or sexual violence,” she says.

She says there are more than 100 children on the waiting list with no services available to support them currently.

The charity has kept going when many rape crisis centres have been forced to close as a result of local authority cuts.

“We have a turnover of £450,000 and are funded via 13 different funding streams; that’s a big change from a few years ago,” she explains.

Crasac are going to use the prize money to transform a basement into a young person’s therapy unit and to “raise awareness about the positive impact we have on the lives of survivors,” says Whitfield.