This article is from page 3 of the 2011-11-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
A NEW outreach centre for rape victims is being opened in Ennis, in response to demand from clients throughout the county.
That’s according to Rape Crisis Midwest, which will officially open its Ennis centre on the Clon Road at 4pm on Friday.
Demand for services in the midwest is significant, with 15 new calls received every week at its Limerick headquarters.
“This is in response to demand. We have delivering a service to the people of Clare since we opened up in the 1980s. We have found that people found the trip to Limerick quite hard, particularly those coming from the west,” said the director of fundraising with the organisation, Verena Tarpey.
The new centre will be operated on a part-time basis, two days a week; counselling services will be available on Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment. “Not only will there be long-term counselling but it will also provide support counselling for the family of a victim of a sexual attack. We also do court accompaniments,” said Ms Tarpey.
The waiting list for clients currently stands at four months, but those in need of immediate assistance are taken as priority.
“I think that more people are coming in looking for help. There is more awareness. There is also more awareness of the fact it is not something to be ashamed of either,” she said.
Fundraising will be crucial to the survival of the Ennis outreach centre. “We are receiving no government funding to pay for the overheads in Ennis such as rent and computer services. We get core funding for our service in Limerick. We made a huge decision to open it (Ennis). It is needed. We are relying on the goodwill of the people of Ennis,” she said.
“We have to stretch our resources. We want to do it to make the service accessible to the people of Clare,” she said.
The organisation is piloting a new education programme for transition year students in a number of schools in the mid-west, including Coláiste Mhuire in Ennis.
“We are piloting it in the mid-west and it is a first for Rape Crisis Midwest,” said Ms Tarpey.
“We felt that a pilot programme such as this would be beneficial to students. It educates them in relation to different aspects of the law of sexual offences and how alcohol can affect people,” she said.
“Students in particular would not necessarily want to avail of long-term counselling but they are aware of the different services that are available in the mid-west,” she added.