New sexual violence support service launched for Meath

A new sexual violence support service is being launched for Meath.

Rape Crisis North East in partnership with Meath Womens Refuge & Support Services and Drogheda Women & Children’s Refuge have announced a new sexual violence service for the county and the expansion of the service in Drogheda.

The initiative is funded by Tusla Child & Family Agency and led by Rape Crisis North East. The counselling service will be available to anyone over the age of 14 years in Drogheda and Meath.

The initiative was born in recognition that both Meath and Drogheda were under resourced in terms of specialised sexual violence counselling service.

This new service in Meath and enhanced service in Drogheda will bring much needed specialised support to survivors of sexual violence in their locality. The funding provides for a specialised counsellor in Meath four days a week and two additional days support in Drogheda.

The specialised sexual violence counsellors will be primarily responsible for delivering one-to-one counselling and support to clients both adults and young people presenting issues relating to sexual violence and rape in the new outreach in Drogheda and other possible locations.

Grace McArdle, RCNE Manager said “Our new location in Co. Meath and the expansion of our counselling services in Drogheda will help us continue to grow and develop to meet the needs of survivors of rape and sexual violence. This will allow us to provide an exceptional and superior service for clients as we go forward now that we are working collaboratively with Meath Women’s Refuge and Support Services and Drogheda Women & Children’s Refuge”.

In 2022, RCNE offered 1,703 counselling appointments to survivors of rape and sexual violence. 61% of those counselling appointments were provided to clients living in Co. Louth and 15% from Co. Meath. 2,345 helpline calls were addressed by RCNE helpline supporters. 74% of contacts were from Co. Louth and 15% from Co. Meath. RCNE currently have a waiting list of clients particularly from Drogheda and Co. Meath in urgent need to receive counselling and support.

Rape Crisis North East have identified that the “waiting lists” are the main barrier for survivors of Rape and Sexual Violence to accessing RCC services living in Meath and Drogheda.

Grace McArdle, Manager of RCNE highlighted “We have clients from parts of Meath having to take three buses to get to our Rape Crisis Counselling Services and three buses to return home to receive one hour of counselling support on a weekly basis. This is simply just not good enough. Rape Crisis North East should be accessible to everyone in Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Cavan”.

Meath has a population of 220,296, is the second fastest growing county in Ireland and is the fifth most populous according to the recent census figures, so demands for services is high. In 2022, MWRSS provided counselling supports to 164 women impacted by Domestic Violence with a total of 525 sessions of counselling provided.

Sinéad Smith CEO of MWRSS, a partner in this initiative stated: We really welcome the opening of a new sexual violence counselling service for Co. Meath. This service will ensure that those aged 14 years or over will have access to a localised service in the county and this will impact on current waiting lists to access specialised counselling for survivors of sexual violence. We will work in partnership with RCNE to build and grow the service as we did in its inception to ensure that this is just the first step towards an integrated sexual violence support service for Meath. We know this service will have a positive impact for victims of Domestic Violence too.

Susan Keogh, CEO DWCR, highlighted that in the first 10 months of 2023, DWCR provided counselling and therapeutic support to 41 Adults and 32 children. The demand for such a service is high, DWCR have up to 50% of their service users who were also raped and sexually abused, and MWRSS are working with women who have experienced sexual violence within the context of intimate partner relationships or have an historical experience of sexual violence.

Susan added that, “We believe that having a joint counselling service in Meath & Drogheda we would not only reduce both the waiting lists, but also enable all three organisations work collaboratively, share essential resources and expertise to ensure comprehensive counselling services are in place across both counties for those affected by Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence”.

Drogheda has a population of about 41,000 inhabitants (2016), making it the eleventh largest settlement by population in all of Ireland, and the largest town in the Country both by population and area. Just outside the town of Drogheda is Mosney Accommodation Centre for Asylum-Seekers. It is Ireland’s largest centre of Independent Living, accommodating up to 800 residents, single people and families, in their houses and apartments. Drogheda also has a large number ofUkrainians living in the area rea.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD who launched the new counselling services stated that “If you are a victim of sexual violence, it is important to know there is help available and you don’t need to deal with it on your own. Rape Crisis North East provide essential supports to survivors of sexual violence, and this expansion of services will improve the availability of specialised and comprehensive sexual violence counselling in the surrounding area, working in close collaboration with Meath Women’s Refuge and Support Services and Drogheda Women & Children’s Refuge”