Funding helps sexual assault charity provide 'lifeline' during pandemic

A Dorset charity that's a 'lifeline' for the families of children who've been sexually abused has been given funding for the pandemic.

Acts Fast work with the non-abusive parents or carers of children who have made a disclosure of sexual abuse.

They've been give £16,495 so the could support 14 new referrals who came forward during the lockdown period, as well as supporting the existing 40 clients already receiving help.

Mandy Gulliver is the CEO and co-founder of Acts Fast, she said:

"Because it's not talked about so much, and especially unfortunately, because the majority of 60% to 70% of the disclosures are a family member, it really does absolutely knock the non-abusive parent off a cliff.

"It's not just the fact that that's what happened, you've then got the fact of, within the family, there's discrepancies, there's differences, there's disbelief, then also you've got financial issues as well and it creates an absolute tsunami of emotions that isn't really thought about."

The charity describes a disclosure as being ‘like a bomb going off with shrapnel indiscriminately cutting into everyone involved’ and provides services including counselling and group support.

Acts Fast began holding virtual appointments to replace their original face-to-face sessions and also expanded their hours of service to provide evening and weekend sessions, accommodating people who lived with children and so could not talk openly during the day.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) was successful in obtaining funding from the Ministry of Justice Covid-19 fund, which supports charities providing services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, to cover the cost of funding the organisation.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill said:

“Child sexual abuse doesn’t just have a devastating impact on the victims, but on those close to them, and Acts Fast provides essential help to often overlooked people living through traumatic and damaging situations.

“The pandemic has seen many already vulnerable people becoming even more isolated, and it would have been unthinkable for this organisation’s clients to be left without support.

“Commissioning services that provide a benefit to people in Dorset is one of the most important elements of my role, and I am glad my team were able to meet the challenge presented by the pandemic and enable the charity to access these vital funds so quickly.”

Mandy added:

“We are absolutely delighted to have received this funding at such a crucial time to enable the charity to continue to provide our vital lifeline of emotional support, which was essential to help our clients through such a difficult and scary time.”