19th January 2016

New Year - New Name! - Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services

11 January 2016

Much of 2015 was taken up with discussion and consultation about the name of their organisation and in December they formally changed their name to Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services......

"The change came about because of ongoing confusion from both prospective service users and referrers. People were often confused whether they could access our services if they had experienced childhood sexual abuse and we know of occasions when women went without a service because of this confusion.

We are passionate about making sure that everyone who needs specialist support receives it, so changing our name became really important to us. It was quite a challenge to make a change that was going to meet the needs of everyone inside and outside of the organisation. In the end, we decided to hang on to ‘Devon Rape Crisis’ as part of the name because it is a nationally known, historic brand and a name that we have built locally with an excellent reputation over the last 5 years. Adding ‘Sexual Abuse Services’ allowed us to reach out to thousands who have been affected by childhood sexual abuse and let them know that we can and will help. It was quite a pragmatic choice and doesn’t scan as well as our old name but crucially it makes who we are and what we do much clearer – and that was always the most important reason for a change.

The good news is that our website and email addresses will not be changing! So please continue to contact us in all the usual ways."

http://www.devonrapecrisis.org.uk/new-year-new-name