Barnsley Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Services (BSARCS)

BSARCS’ multi-disciplinary team provide specialist therapy and wellbeing support to children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse or violence. Their aim is to limit the multiple, significant, and harmful effects that an experience of sexual harm has on a child or young person’s life, through the provision of specialised trauma interventions.

Providing therapeutic intervention to children and involving their primary care givers, the initiative promotes safe, nurturing, and stable relationships. It can reduce a child’s reliance on problematic and damaging coping behaviours, such as alcohol, drugs, and self-injury, and enables them to access and engage with education more fully.

In the longer term, this intervention impacts an individual’s mental health, reducing the incidence of suicidal ideation, reducing the likelihood of re-victimisation, and reducing the likelihood of the victim perpetrating violence and criminal behaviours.

BSARCS aim to provide support at the earliest opportunity following a disclosure of sexual abuse, as they believe that early intervention is imperative in minimising the immediate and long-term impact, improving outcomes and opportunities for victims.