ISVA service

Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) can support anyone who lives in Gloucestershire and has experienced sexual violence, irrespective of age, gender and background. The ISVA will be sensitive to your needs and will help you to make informed choices.

Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) can support anyone who lives in Gloucestershire and has experienced sexual violence, irrespective of age, gender and background. The ISVA will be sensitive to your needs and will help you to make informed choices.

Our Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA ) offers a free and confidential specialist service providing practical help and emotional support to anyone who has been raped or sexually assaulted at any time in their lives.
Sometimes it can be difficult to talk to your family, friends or partner about what has happened to you or you may not have told anyone at all. The Independent Sexual Violence Advisor can provide the opportunity to talk in a safe and confidential environment. The ISVA service is about helping you to make informed choices, not about telling you what to do.

The ISVA can support you in a number of ways:

• To help you decide if you wish to report to the police and give you information about the legal process and your rightsLiaise with the police and prosecution service on your behalf and advocate when needed.
• Support you from report through to court
• Identify what other support you may need and help you get other specialist support, e.g. counselling, mental health support, sexual health, substance and alcohol misuse

What to expect:

The ISVA will contact you and arrange to meet with you if you wish
You will not be expected to talk about what’s happened. The ISVA will be aware of this and will focus on supporting you through this difficult time.

How you can get the ISVA service:

You can ask for a referral to the service from the Police, NHS or any other agency.
Or, you can self-refer by calling us on 01452 305 421

One-to-one therapeutic support

Therapeutic supports offers you the space, and time, to talk through your thoughts, feelings, and options with a specialist support worker.  GRASAC provide up to 18 sessions of 1-1 emotional support to male survivors.
Your support worker can meet you at our centre om the outskirts of Gloucester, or at a safe and convenient location elsewhere. Specialist Support Workers can give one-to-one dedicated support by telephone and video call too.

GRASAC services enable you to manage the consequences of your experiences, and to recover from them.

GRASAC’s fully trained support workers will help you deal with the impact of what you have been through;
support you whether the assault happened recently, or many years ago.

With support you can begin to:
• feel less isolated, anxious or fearful;
• be better able to deal with what has happened to you;
• feel more able to cope;
• be able to look at your options and decide what’s best for you;
• think about, and look forward to, the future.