South Yorkshire charity which provides lifeline for sexual and domestic abuse survivors wins Lottery backing

The £500,000 grant just announced will support the work of Rotherham Abuse Counselling Service (RACS) over the next five years.

RACS provides free specialist confidential counselling to women, men and young people to help them re-build their lives after the trauma of experiencing rape, sexual or domestic abuse, including Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

Clients are referred by a variety of agencies including GPs and mental health services, and they can also refer themselves.

This is the second round of funding for RACS from the Big Lottery Fund. Other funders include Rotherham Borough Council, Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group, the Ministry of Justice, Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the Henry Smith Charity and Tudor Trust.

RACS is entirely dependent on funding from external sources, and the BLF award has been warmly welcomed by chairman Nick Arkle.

He said: “This funding means that RACS can continue to offer a service to some of the most vulnerable people in Rotherham. It is also an acknowledgement of the care, hard work and dedication of our staff.”

RACS is expanding to meet growing demand for its services. New group therapy sessions for men are being started and a new website launched at Click here