Page 5 - SafeLinkEvaluation

• The evaluation demonstrates the service is successful and has broken new ground in the support and protection of survivors with LD. By having a dedicated ISVA it has raised the profile of rape and sexual abuse within the LD community and given survivors a clear message that their experience matters.
• A key learning is that the role of an LD ISVA encompasses more activities and tasks
than a generic ISVA. It is much wider than supporting the survivor, with family/carers and professionals all requiring intervention. Raising awareness, challenging assumptions, and presenting alternative viewpoints requires diplomacy and compassion.
• There is still much work to be done with police and CJS to improve their understanding and response to survivors with LD. There are pockets of good practice, but overall survivors with LD do not fare well in the CJS.
• The emotional impact of rape and sexual assault cannot be over emphasised.
For a survivor with LD, the experience
is compounded by communication and comprehension issues and they can face discrimination when they ask for help. The interplay of these factors makes the post of an LD ISVA even more essential as an effective and inclusive response to rape and sexual abuse.
Background to the evaluation
IIn 2017 SAFE Link in partnership with Womankind was awarded Home Office
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Transformation Fund funding (applied for on our behalf by Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commission). SAFE Link was funded to provide a specialist Learning Disabilities ISVA and Womankind was funded to provide a specialist befriending service.
The partnerships aim was to work together
to improve lives and build resilience for the most vulnerable victims of sexual assault who have additional needs linked to either learning difficulties or mental ill-health across Avon & Somerset.
VAWG funded a 0.5 FTE learning Disabilities ISVA at SAFE Link and a 0.5 FTE Befriending Coordinator at Womankind for 3 years.
An added aim of the project was to transform partnership working. The project aspired to raise awareness about the number and needs of survivors with Learning Disabilities or mental health issues; to establish clear pathways between services/agencies; and to share expertise across sexual violence, Learning Disability, and mental health sectors.
To reflect the complexity of the work carried out by each organisation the evaluation was in two parts. This evaluation is looking at the impact of the SAFE Link service. If you would like to see the evaluation of the Womankind service, or a combined copy of both please contact us.
We would like to thank everyone that contributed to the evaluation in particular the victims who used our services.
3 | Safe Link