National Service Standards Met Again!
We are really pleased to announce that Notts SVSS have again met the National Service Standards required by Rape Crisis England and Wales to maintain our membership of this valuable organisation.
Maintaining the Standard
The National Service Standards were developed with reference to other recognised quality assured frameworks such as:
- Supporting People Quality Assessment Framework
- British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
- The Helplines Association Quality Standard
The standards are also seen as a ‘benchmark for excellence’ met by organisations offering a specialist range of sexual violence services, consistently delivered to a high standard. This is not only reassuring to clients but also assures funding commissioners of the quality and value for money of the services they are purchasing.
Although it was an extensive piece of work, for us it was focused on gathering evidence of our work, policies and procedures, which is hugely reassuring to our organisation. Notably, there was an increased focus on campaigning, possibly due to heightened awareness following things like the IICSA Inquiry and the #MeToo movement. Inclusiveness in messaging was also a focus. We were able to provide strong examples in both these areas, demonstrating how we continue to challenge stereotypes and raise awareness with others on the issue of sexual violence.
Raising the Standard
We are extremely proud to have achieved this accolade but our work does not stop here. We are currently working hard with other organisations to promote positive conversations around consent as part of our work with the Consent Coalition. We be recruiting to five new counsellor positions shortly, to help us to reduce the waiting list, following a continued increase of demand on this service. Watch out for updates on the recruitment page of our website. We are also working hard with Nottingham Women’s Centre and Juno Women’s Aid to secure a new space that will meet the growing needs of our services and service users. Keep updated on the new things happening in our service by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on social media.
