Investment theme: Moving on from abuse
Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis: £2,788 Covid grant 2019: A new textline support service which has been successful with young women and is being continued post pandemic.
Purpose: setting up a textline that has been used increasingly by young women and girls to make their first contact with the organisation. Our aim was to offer a way for survivors to contact us discretely if they were unable to speak on the phone during the lockdown period and this has been successful. This was supported by web based resources.
Achievements We have been successful in setting up a textline that has been used increasingly by young women and girls to make their first contact with the organisation. Since receiving the funding and establishing the line we have had 231 texts into the textline. The textline has taken over the role that our Instant Messaging facility previously held as it offers greater privacy to users. We also know that deaf women are more likely to use texting as a way of communication and we have already supported one deaf women with our textline and plan to continue to use this for her support as she tells us she is very comfortable being supported in this way. We will seek to fund this service in future years as part of the larger Connect Live service and we also anticipate it fitting 
in with our Live Online Support service for survivors overseas. Website development for the Rosey Project has been extremely successful and as well as a text service we have set up a What’s App service for young women from aged 13years. High profile social media presence on Instagram and through the website has increased the number of contacts and interest in the project.
M is aged 15 and was at home for several months after her school closed down due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Although M has her own bedroom, it was difficult for her to speak to anyone as her mother and younger siblings often came into her room without knocking and without permission. M had been raped by a boy in her school and although it had been reported to police, there was not enough evidence to prosecute.This affected M very deeply as she believed that the police thought she was lying, her teachers wanted it covered up and her parents were ashamed of her. Although she had been reassured by all of them that this was not the case, M felt very isolated and alone. She had been following the Rosey Project on Instagram and had seen some of their short videos. When she saw the promotional short film for the textline, she got in touch and asked if she could talk to someone by text. Over the following weeks, M contacted the textline almost daily and found her support really helped. She decided to tell her mother about being in touch with rape crisis and her mother was delighted that she was getting some support. We were also able to tell M’s mother that we also support family members and she also got in touch with our Connect Live helpline and speaks to them regularly. When the service fully opens up for face to face services, M and her mother both want to come and get some further support from our workers.
Women’s Fund for Scotland has given a total of £7, 031 across 3grants to our grant partner Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis. We are pleased we have been able to support your excellent work in this way. Thank you for all that you do and for choosing us as your funding partner.
