New sexual violence support service for North East launched
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At the launch were Susan Keogh and Cllr Elaine McGinty of Drogheda Women’s and Children’s Refuge with Justice Minister, Helen McEntee TD. Paul ConnorImage 2 of 4
Jinnicha Saowaphayodwee from Cultur Migrant Centre Sinead Smith of Meath Women’s Refuge and Fiona Fallon of Meath Co Council. Paul ConnorImage 3 of 4
Christine Devlin and Edel Macari of Meath Women’s Refuge at the launch in Navan. Paul ConnorImage 4 of 4
Cllr. Tommy Reilly, Minister Helen McEntee and Cllr. Sharon Tolan at last week’s launch. Paul ConnorRAPE Crisis North East in partnership with Meath Women’s Refuge & Support Services and Drogheda Women & Children’s Refuge have announced a new sexual violence counselling 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.
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”.
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: 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.
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 MWRSS and DWCR.”