Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre is expanding its vital services to women victims. It is extending its telephone Helpline and opening its doors every Friday between 11.30am and 2pm from November 7.

This is in addition to its present three evening sessions.

OSARCC has been providing support for over 20 years to women and girls who have experienced rape and sexual violence.

It is the only service of its kind in the county and it is managed and staffed entirely by volunteers.

This year has already been an enormously successful year for OSARCC, thanks to the continued support of Oxford City Council and grants from St Michael’s and All Saints Church and the Oxford Community Fund.

The centre has run two recent training programmes, and now boasts 30 female volunteers who are trained to listen and support survivors via the centre’s Helpline.

Liz Hulme, of OSARCC, said: “Although the centre will not be actively recruiting new helpline volunteers until at least mid-2009, there are many others ways to show your support, one of which is to attend the local Reclaim the Night march and rally on November 8 to highlight the level of violence against women.

“There is still a lack of awareness of how prevalent rape is in today’s society despite the fact that there were an estimated 190,000 incidents of serious sexual assault and an estimated 47,000 female victims of rape/attempted rape in the UK in 2004 alone.

"The effects of rape and sexual abuse can be devastating, not to mention long lasting. However, many women are too afraid to speak out about what has happened to them, either because of a sense of shame, or more often the fear that they won’t be believed,”

OSARCC provides these women with a safe space in which to talk about their experiences and to assess what action to take.

As in all rape crisis centres, it is one of OSARCC’s guiding principles to believe what a woman tells them.

OSARCC also actively challenges any perception of self-blame and strongly believes that the responsibility for violence lies with the perpetrator. OSARCC hopes that its daytime session will enable it to reach even more women.

The centre is keen to hear from you if you can help to spread the word about its new service. If you are a professional or volunteer from another organisation who would benefit from receiving more information about the service, then contact OSARCC at osarcc@gmail.com or call 01865 726295 or freephone 0800 783294.

The Helpline operates: Sunday 6pm-8.30pm; Monday 6.30pm-9pm; Thursday 6.30pm-9pm; Friday 11.30am-2pm.