Our Ethos

 

Throughout our development, we have always kept the principle set up by those first women – the services we introduce are always in response to what victims and survivors tell us they need and want.

 

We know that recovering from sexual abuse is about reclaiming control over our own lives, and we respect, support, and encourage each survivor to do just that.

 

Mission

 

SERICC vision is of a world free of sexual violence and child sexual abuse. As a step towards this vision, we do all we can to create a culture where victims and survivors are supported and treated with fairness and respect.

 

We work to increase awareness and understanding of the societal attitudes that perpetuate sexual violence and devalue the devastating impact it has on victims’ lives. We seek to challenge the myths and misconceptions that exist around sexual violence.

 

Aims

 

• To provide high quality, specialist support to victims and survivors of sexual violence and child sexual abuse.
• To increase awareness and understanding of sexual violence and child sexual abuse and the impact they have on victims and survivors, challenging myths and misconceptions.
• To promote and represent the rights and needs of victims and survivors, including advocating for a fairer criminal justice system.

 

We recognise that sexual violence is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and that sexual violence disproportionately affects women and girls.

 

Sexual violence is any unwanted sexual act or activity. There are many different kinds of sexual violence, including but not restricted to: rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, domestic sexual violence, sexual harassment, forced marriage, so-called “honour based” violence, female genital mutilation, online forms of sexual bullying and abuse, sexual violence as a weapon of war, trafficking, prostitution, exposure to or making of pornography, ritualised and organised abuse.

 

All of these forms of sexual violence are often underpinned by a pattern of coercive control. Sexual violence may involve a single perpetrator or a group of perpetrators. Perpetrators may be strangers but are more often known and may be in a position of trust or authority.

 

We believe that sexual violence service provision is most effective when it is specialist, independent, survivor and needs-led. It should be delivered by “not for profit organisations” that embody principles of participation and provide responsive survivor-centred services. We recognise factors such as age, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability can affect survivors’ experience of sexual violence.

 

We believe in evidence-based service delivery and building innovation to meet the needs of survivors.

 

We are committed to the highest standards of public service including recognising the NOLAN principles as a guiding framework for how we operate.

 

Vision

 

SERICC rape and sexual violence specialist service works with victims and survivors of sexual violence and child sexual abuse, providing independent, specialist support and promoting and representing their rights and needs.