After you leave our centre

The first thing you should know is that we will not make you leave the centre or send you home to somewhere that we do not think you will be safe. We will only send you home if we are certain you are in no danger. This may not apply to you at all, but for some children and young people, we could not allow them to return somewhere where we are worried they may suffer more abuse. We are here to look after you and if we decide with you that it would not be best for us to send you home yet, we will make arrangements to keep you safe from harm.

If we think it is safe for you to go home, we will continue giving you help and support through all the follow up care that we can arrange for you. This will allow us to give you everything you need to help you recover physically and emotionally.

Getting follow-up care

We have a team of specially trained staff who are experts in providing for all the follow-up care needs of young people and children. You will be able to talk to a member of our team when you need them, who will be your main point of contact with our service. They are here to listen to all your concerns and to make sure you get all the support and advice that you need. You can talk to this person privately and they will be the person who makes sure you get access to all the extra care you need after your visit to one of our centres. If you need follow up medical care, therapeutic support or even help and support if your abuse case goes to court, we will support you.

Follow-up medical care

If we decide with you after your first visit with us that you need it, we will arrange for you to have follow-up tests and treatments as part of our support for you. We will arrange these treatments or tests to be at a place that is easy for you to access near your home as there are special centres for these healthcare issues all over the East Midlands. Some of these things you may have been offered or had when you came to visit us the first time, but often it isn’t suitable to give you certain treatments or tests until a period of time has passed.

The follow up medical care you will be offered and can have organised includes:

  • Ongoing treatment for any injuries you may have suffered as you may need one or more appointments before you are happy you are physically recovered
  • Pregnancy testing will be offered at a healthcare centre that is close to you
  • We will offer you testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because certain STIs will not show up on tests until at least 2 weeks after an incident occurred
  • If you had testing for STIs on your first visit, we will arrange an appointment for you to receive your results and discuss treatment
  • We will arrange for treatments and medication for any STIs based on the results of tests
  • If we decided it was appropriate on your first visit, we may arrange for you to have a course of vaccinations if we are concerned you may have been exposed to certain infections

We will always listen to your concerns and do everything we can every step of the way to look after your physical wellbeing and make sure that you stay healthy.

Therapeutic Support

Getting emotional support is important for a lot of people who have experienced rape or sexual assault. Even if you have family and friends who are very supportive, it can always be helpful to talk to someone about how you are feeling who is trained and used to helping people who have had similar experiences as yours. We have a dedicated team of Therapeutic Support Workers who will be available to talk to you about how you are feeling, listen to your concerns, and help you to understand or process the range of emotions you may be feeling.

They will work closely with you to find out the best way to support your wellbeing. They understand that different approaches work better for different people, so they will work with you to find out the best way to help you to feel better. This approach could involve talking, art or even drama if your Support Worker feels that one of these options may be helpful to you. They are also trained in helping to explain your situation to family or friends as many people find this particularly difficult. Therapeutic Support Workers are there to help your emotional recovery however they can.

Normally, we will decide with you on your first visit, or some time shortly after, to have a series of appointments with a Therapeutic Support Worker. We will usually offer up to 10 sessions of therapeutic support. You should hear back from us about when and where your appointment is within a week of leaving the centre. We will arrange for this appointment to be somewhere close to where you live so you can get there easily.

In most cases, you will see the same Therapeutic Support Worker at every meeting so they can get to know you and learn how best to support you. They are there to help you understand how what happened to you has affected you and to help you feel normal about your feelings and actions after the assault. Your Therapeutic Support Worker will also be there to help you through common stress symptoms following a rape or sexual assault. If you are having issues with anxiety, trouble sleeping, are suffering with depression or are having anger problems, for example, they will be there to support you.

We will give you therapeutic support for as long as we feel that you need it. For some people, the first few sessions that we organise will be enough for them to feel better emotionally, but for others, they may need support for a much longer period of time. Everyone is different and we always listen to your concerns. Remember, we are here if you need us, for as long as we feel you need us.

Sessions are usually around 50 minutes long. We will not give details about your case to anyone unless you say we can, if we are ordered to as part of an investigation into your assault, or if you tell us something that makes us have concerns for someone’s safety. Again, there is no set number of times we will see you, we always decide with you how best to give you support. If that means more therapeutic sessions, these can be arranged for you. If you need any extra support beyond what can be provided by the Therapeutic Support Worker, we can arrange for you to see a specialist at your nearest CAMH service.

Young Person’s Advocate/ChISVA

After somebody has experienced rape or sexual assault, access to a Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) is arranged. For young people, this person is a CISVA who is specially trained to advise and handle the cases of young people and children and this person is often called a Young Person’s Advocate. This person is there to give you help and support during the whole legal process of your case. If you would like more information about the support a Young Person’s Advocate/ChISVA will give you, you can read our ChISVA Support page.

The Young Person’s Advocate may be able to help prepare you and guide you and through the court process in the trial of the person who assaulted you. This can be very difficult for young people to deal with, and this is why we have Young Person’s Advocates who are here to help. They can give you support in police interviews, prepare you for speaking to a court, prepare you for speaking to the police and give you advice through the whole process. Remember, this can all feel like too much after you have already had to deal with something as difficult as a sexual assault. That is why a Young Person’s Advocate, hand in hand with a therapeutic support worker, is here to help you cope with everything.

You are never left on your own to cope with the emotional or physical damage that a rape or sexual assault can have. We are here to help you every step of the way and support you long after your first visit with us.

More Information

Information for Children Under 13

We’ve written a guide for children under the age of 13 which explains what happens when you come to the centre.
The guide is available as a PDF, so you can view it on your computer or print a copy.

Under 13s Guide