Asa Service – 6 months

Notts SVS Services – Asa Hub & Therapy Services – the first six months

• 579 referrals into the Asa Service with 1883 contacts made to into the Hub during the first six months.
• Over 95% of referrals have had an attempted contact made within one working day* **
• 99% of referrals have been offered a needs and risk assessment within one working week* **
• All survivors offered a choice of gender of their support worker/therapist

*unless requested otherwise by survivor

** April – June statistics

‘The counselling has been amazing.  I feel so much more empowered and now able to move forward in my life – I am getting me back again.’  (client)

‘I have had an opportunity to confront the abuse, acknowledging it exists and doing something with that. I give that part more credit than I ever have done. It was also helpful to discuss the impact of my relationships with my family has had on me and helped those relationships to move forward’ (male client)

Notts SVS Services were commissioned to provide the Asa Hub & Therapy Service which launched on 1 January 2021.  The commissioning along with the security of long-term funding, means that we have been able to develop and expand services in ways not previously possible.  For survivors one of the earliest and most impactful changes were to the availability of our services.  Our helpline now takes calls seven days a week with our counselling and therapy services open every day (including weekday evenings) and daytime at the weekends.  The support offered now includes CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing) and a drop-in service.

The Asa Hub, which has been jointly funded by the PCC, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups has been co-designed with survivors.  The fact that we have been able to work and develop our services to meet the expressed needs of survivors cannot be understated.  The permanent extension to our opening hours, with flexible appointments, means we are better able to support survivors at a time that is right for them.  Additional therapies, access to a mental health nurse and referral pathways into internal and external services enable us to better support survivors with all their needs.  All our services are provided free of charge.

‘The service I received was brilliant. Sessions were flexible to work around my work/life balance.’ (client)

With around half of all people coming into our service by contacting us directly, we are aware that our messaging and engagement with different groups needs to be both sensitive and relevant.  Our work to reach under-represented groups has included the translation of our guide to services into nine different languages and our leaflets for different genders updated to reflect changes in service.  We have run and inclusion survey to feed into our future work and are working towards achieving the Male Quality Standards.  Our Survivor’s Charter and Engagement Strategy are currently being drafted and we are looking to work with different groups within the community to find out how we can encourage survivors to seek support.

Notts SVS Services are delighted to provide the Asa Hub & Therapy Services.  Novlet Holness, CEO, said ‘This is the first time the Asa Hub and Therapy Service has been commissioned in Nottingham/shire.  The fact that we have managed to develop the service so quickly, during a pandemic, is a credit to our staff, trustees and commissioners.  The demand on our service increases year on year, with 579 referrals into the hub during the first six months alone.  But as a support service we see the survivors and the experiences behind them and we know that access to support when it is needed helps to promote long-term recovery.  We are grateful to commissioners for their vision and trust in offering funding over a span of three to five years, ensuring survivors can get the support they need at a time that is right for them.’

The core of our work is to listen to, believe and support survivors and with the support of our commissioners we confident that we are able to meet the needs of survivors both now and in the future.

How you can get involved with our work

We would like to start working with different groups within Nottingham to find out how we can let them know about our services and remove barriers that might stop people seeking support.  If you are involved in a community group and think this is something you might be interested in, please do contact us for more information.  We would love to hear from you and will handle any queries sensitively and with care.

You are also welcome to provide feedback on any aspect of our service.  You can do this directly with helpline staff or by filling in our online feedback form, which can be done anonymously.

‘Internally I have improved, I recognise my worth and I have better ways of coping and I do not think I would have managed without the counselling’ (Male client)