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A charity dedicated to supporting survivors of rape and sexual assault has been able to slash its waiting times for counselling services from up to 10 months to around 12 weeks thanks to a £30,000 donation.
The funding boost from the Jersey Community Foundation (JCF) came at a vital time for Jersey Action Against Rape (JAAR), with demand for its services having soared during lockdown.
“During the first 'stay at home' order in March of 2020, JAAR started to receive an increase in people reaching out, asking for our help to support them on their healing journey,” JAAR’s Community Engagement Officer, Zoe Collins-Fisher, explained.
"Towards the end of 2020, we were in the unfortunate position of having to tell clients that there was nine to 10 months waiting time for our services. However, with the help and support from the JCF and other donors, we have now been able to increase the number of counselling hours and have worked hard to reduce this waiting time to 12 to 14 weeks.
"Since JAAR opened in 2015, we have provided over 2,800 hours of free counselling to survivors and their families in Jersey and we are only able to continue providing and improving this support thanks to the generosity of grant givers such as the JCF.”
The £30,000 funding - which comes in addition to a recent boost of £5,000 from the Jersey Freemasons - came from £1m extracted from dormant bank accounts.
JCF is in charge of distributing this money, and has been using it to give emergency grant support to 30 local charities through its Coronavirus Response Fund.
As well as JAAR, the Women’s Refuge (£50,000), Causeway Association (£7,800), and St. John Ambulance (£20,000) have also benefited recently.
“The demands for funding have changed since the start of the pandemic, we are seeing less demand for food banks and emergency accommodation,” CEO Anna Terry said.
“The longer-term effects of lockdown, the traumatic experience of covid-19 for some and compounding factors have led to an increase in demand from mental health services, support for domestic violence and longer-term support for homeless services amongst others.”
The next closing date for applications from the Coronavirus Response Fund is Sunday, 12th September. Any charity wishing to apply for a grant should contact grants@jerseycommunityfoundation.org.
JAAR recently spoke to Express about another major project it is working on this year: educating young people about consent.
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