“THE SUPPORT I RECIEVED DURING A DIFFICULT TIME GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO REPORT OTHER CRIMES THAT HAD BEEN COMMITED AGAINST ME”
Gabby’s Story
How we helped
One of our Northumbria Victim and Witness Support Officers made contact and established that Gabby had not had access to an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) at the time she had reported the offence, feeling that she could cope on her own.
With her consent an ISVA was appointed and contact made within 48 hours. Gabby received regular contact as and when agreed with our ISVA and a referral was made for some further counselling for her to talk over her experiences and start to move on with her life.
What happened afterwards
Through the support of her ISVA Gabby felt comfortable enough and reported two further incidents of sexual abuse that had taken place prior to the rape. A few weeks into the contact with the ISVA, Gabby advised that for the first time since the rape had occurred she hadn’t felt alone and felt she could be strong enough to get through things and go on to continue with her life.
How we can help you
We have 6 trained ISVAs who deal with any serious sexual violence cases. They are trained to provide specialist support to people going through a number of different emotions and can be a point of contact for support, and a source of information to minimise the issues you have to think about.