Abuse affects every aspect of a woman’s life. And we know that women can face huge barriers to get the justice and support they need and deserve in the aftermath of the abuse. Some of these barriers are a result of the stigma, discrimination and criminalisation that women have historically experienced.
This summer we launched RISE@SWRC, a service that assists women who sell/ exchange sex to use their rights and make their voices heard after an experience of abuse. Advocacy Support is a key part of this service.
Advocacy is available for women who have additional needs in their journey to seek justice and support. Whether this means approaching the justice system, arranging child contact, seeking medical attention, finding information about an immigration status, securing safe housing, or contacting other support services and government agencies.
Keep reading to find out how advocacy support works at RISE@SWRC and how this service can help.
Firstly, it is important to know whether this is the right service for you. RISE@SWRC is a legal and advocacy service that assists women who are or have been involved in selling or exchanging sex in Scotland. This can include, for example:
And experiences abuse or violence, such as:
We can support you even if the violence or abuse happened a long time ago and whether it happened while selling/exchanging sex or not. We will always work with you as an individual and will respect your unique experience, views and circumstances.
RISE@SWRC is a free, confidential and non-judgemental service.
The RISE@SWRC Advocacy Worker is here to understand the different areas of your life that may have been affected by your experience of abuse. She can explain the support that you can get, and help you get in touch with government services and other organisations. These can include the courts, police, NHS, Citizens Advice Bureau, Home Office, women’s organisations, among others.
Our advocacy support service can help with questions such as:
If you are unsure whether our advocacy service can help, please get in touch with us to discuss your circumstances.
Our legal and advocacy teams work together to provide legal advice and other support. If you get in touch with our advocacy support service but you need legal advice or information, our advocacy worker can help by:
We understand that you may be worried about disclosing that you are involved in selling or exchanging sex. We treat all information that you give us confidentially. This means that we won't share your details with other agencies, services or organisations, unless we have your permission.
The only exceptions to this would be if we thought that someone was in immediate danger, or if we are required to do so by law. However, these circumstances are very rare.
You also have the option to remain anonymous when contacting us. You can do this by telling us your first name only or a different name. Watch our video to find out more about confidentiality at RISE@SWRC.
There are different ways to contact our advocacy support service:
Language interpreter - English may not be your first language. If you need a language interpreter to communicate with our team, please let us know and we can offer you one for free.
Our helpline is currently available:
- Wednesdays between 10am and 1pm
- Thursdays between 1.30pm and 4.30pm
Important: from 10 January 2022 our helpline is temporarily moving to a new format. You can read more about these changes here.