Support at Moray Rape Crisis

At Moray Rape Crisis we provide free and confidential support, information and advocacy to adults and young people of all genders, aged 11 and over, who are affected by any form of sexual violence. We can support you whether you experienced sexual violence recently or a long time ago, and whether or not you reported it to the police. We also support the family members, friends and partners of people affected by sexual violence.

Coping with the trauma of sexual violence can be hard and you do not have to do this alone. Whatever you may feel at this time or whatever the circumstances, you are not to blame for what happened. We will not judge you. We will listen to you, believe you and treat you with respect.

If you would like information or support, you can phone us on 01343 550 407. If we are not able to answer the phone, you can leave a message with your contact details and how you would prefer us to be in touch- for example, by text, phone or email. You don’t need to give us your real name if you prefer not to. When we contact you, we won’t say who we are, unless we speak directly to you.

You can also email us at contact@morayrapecrisis.scot We will get in touch with you to identify a safe and convenient time we can speak with you.

When we speak with you, we will give you some information about our service, and how we can support you. You don’t need to tell us what happened. We will offer you an initial support session, and ask you a few questions to help us arrange this session.

In your initial support session, we will listen to what you say and work out with you how we can best help. This is a chance for you to tell us about how things are for you and ask us any questions. You can decide how much you want to tell us. You do not have to answer any of our questions.

We understand that it can be difficult to be anonymous in Moray. We can support you by phone or online, or arrange to meet with you at a place or time which is safe for you and protects your privacy. We can arrange for free language interpreters, including British Sign Language, to help you access support if your first language is not English. If you use a wheelchair or have mobility difficulties, we can book you a ground floor room in our accessible premises.

Some people contact us for one-off advice and information. Others want support for a short time or for much longer. We can provide the following types of support:

• We can provide information whether you are a survivor of sexual violence and abuse; a friend or relative of a survivor; or a worker from another agency.
• We offer advocacy support for survivors who are thinking about reporting to the police, or who have reported. We can give you information about the process, support you in your engagement with the Police and Crown Office, and provide in-court support.
• We provide longer-term therapeutic support. This support aims to help survivors deal with the effects of rape and sexual violence. Sometimes these effects can emerge in later life, many years after what happened. Unfortunately, there is a waiting list for this support, but we will be in touch with you to offer this support as soon as we can.
• We offer groupwork support for survivors. To date our groups have included singing, cooking and art-based groups. This support aims to bring together survivors of all ages to engage in new experiences in a safe, supportive, confidential space. Groupwork can be accessed before, during and after other support services.

We tailor support sessions to what each survivor wants and needs. The support worker's job is to listen to survivors, to be there for them, and to help them cope with the effects of sexual violence.

What if I need support tonight?

You can contact the Rape Crisis Scotland National Helpline for free on 08088 01 03 02. It is open every day from 6pm to midnight. You can also email support@rapecrisisscotland.org.uk or text on 07537 410 027.

The helpline supports people of all genders living in Scotland aged 13+ who have been affected by sexual violence, as well as family members, friends and partners.

If you are under 13, you can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or online.

It is possible to heal from sexual violence. Moray Rape Crisis can help with this.