Warwick-based charity supporting those affected by sexual abuse is awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds help more people

Safeline has been awarded £809,000 over three years by the Home Office’s Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund.

The funding will be used to recruit more counsellors for its National Telephone and Online Counselling Service, which launched in 2017.

Neil Henderson, CEO of Safeline, said: “It’s wonderful that Safeline, over the last few years, has been able to develop a capability to support people, not only in Warwickshire but in England and Wales.

“We have a transformational service and the fact that we are competing against charities such as the NSPCC and Barnardos and winning these contracts is brilliant.

“We introduced the service as we were getting feedback from Warwickshire victims/survivors about how hard they were finding it to access local specialist support, the only support available at the time was face-to-face counselling which for some, wasn’t an option.

"Victims/survivors with disabilities or who work unusual/long hours, or don’t have specialist support services nearby, were finding it hard to access face-to-face support.

"For those with anxiety, panic attacks or flashbacks, these can be worsened by a long drive or by using crowded public transport. Also, many people can find face-to-face counselling quite traumatising.

"We decided the best way to overcome all this was to introduce a digital, remote support service.

"The benefits became very apparent during Covid because our telephone and online counselling service continued uninterrupted – providing a lifeline to people during the pandemic.”

This is the second time that the charity has been awarded the Home Office grant for this service. The first one was in 2017 when it received £250,000 to launch the service.

The new grant will help the service expand and support more people – including younger people.

Neil said: “We are reducing the age of the people who can access our national telephone and online counselling service from 18 to 16.

"We want to support as many people as possible to cope and recover more quickly from the effects of sexual violence.

"For the first time ever, as an organisation, we are supporting more children and young adults than we are adults.

"Post-covid, the abuse among children and young people in England and Wales has gone through the roof – that’s why we have reduced the age limit of this service, so we can help them.”

The charity also runs the National Male Survivor Helpline and Online Support Service, which is funded by the Ministry of Justice.

Neil said: “I am so proud that a relatively small charity based in Warwick, has the capability to run two national services that support victims/survivors of sexual violence throughout England and Wales."

Neil is also keen to encourage Warwickshire residents to access support.

He said: “Warwickshire victims and survivors are the fourth largest user of the service in England and Wales.

"We are based here which allows us to better raise awareness, and because of that, a lot of people are benefitting from the support and I want that to continue.

“The service is free and support lasts for as long as it takes for people to cope and recover.”

For more information go to: https://safeline.org.uk/