This year has been very varied for Frontline Services. Our
Helpline has continued to be well used. We received 807 calls, a 15% increase on last year, showing
the ongoing necessity of this service for survivors in York and North Yorkshire. Two self help groups
have run, with nine women attending in total. Feedback from the groups was that they were useful in
reducing isolation and helped users to come to terms with some aspects of the abuse they had suffered.
We are keeping a waiting list of interested people at the moment and will be running more groups over
the next year. We have also offered advocacy, one-to-one support and crisis support to several users
of our services, totalling 36 appointments over the year, a 50% increase on last year. Crisis support
has been particularly vital this year around the closure of the counselling service. Feedback from
service users about all of these services has been positive, and we look forward to continuing and
expanding what we offer over the next year.
Due to the lack of a Project Manager, services have been limited
recently due to staff taking on commitments to secure Survive’s future. I look forward to putting
more effort in to service provision, which will include the re-starting of self help groups and more
availability in advocacy and one-to-one support.
I am pleased that six new volunteers have trained with Survive making
a total of thirteen, our largest number of volunteers ever! We are now in a position to consult our
service users and volunteers about the possible expansion of the Helpline to two evenings per week.
Sadly, we will lose Gemma, who has been volunteering with us for 18 months, as she is moving away.
Thanks very much to Gemma and to all our volunteers for their commitment. Our services would not be
able to run without you.
Gill
Thank you for talking. It's really nice to be able to stop being this professional person
and just say "this is how it is." It really helps.