Our Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, (ISVAs), are a team of support workers who can assist and support you in the weeks and months after an assault.
ISVAs will support you if your case has been taken up by the police or goes to court. They will help and support you through the criminal justice system from start to finish and following the court case.
Your ISVA will provide you with information so that you can make the right decisions for you.
We support people regardless of what stage of the process they are at; whether you are considering your options; the case is already progressing through the Criminal Justice Process, or your case has reached an outcome, you can get in touch. Although the amount of support may differ at each stage, we can explore this with you when you get in touch or are referred into us.
ISVA’s can liaise with the Police, Crown Prosecution Service and the courts to ensure you are kept informed of developments and importantly, are offered timely support in relation to these updates.
Everyone who attends Saint Mary’s SARC will be offered support from an ISVA who will normally contact you within five days of your attendance. An ISVA will be able to answer any questions you might have, and can attend court with you if that is what you want.
The service provided includes:
- Initial assessment of the support that you need
- Drawing up of a care plan, involving other partner agencies if required
- Confidential and impartial advice that is not linked to the police
- Regular and on-going telephone contact, face to face meetings and support either at SARC or perhaps near where you live.
- Help with advice on housing issues and other agencies to support your needs
- Detailed understanding of the court process and the criminal justice system
- Attendance with you at any police interviews or court proceedings
- Liaison between you, the police, the CPS and barristers acting on your behalf
- Emotional support and guidance with you and your family if required
- Support in reporting your assault to the police if you first came as a self referral
- Assistance with Criminal Injuries Compensation
MFT Strategy
Please find a link to our NHS Manchester Foundation Trust Strategy here
What the MFT Values and Strategy means for you when you work with your ISVA:
- We will listen to you, what your goals and needs are and build a support plan with you at the centre.
- Your ISVA will work collaboratively with you, and others, to make sure that you receive the right support for your health and wellbeing.
- We will explain our policies and procedures to you including safeguarding and confidentiality.
- We are a service for everyone.
- We will monitor the feedback you choose to provide us of your experience, including any service outcomes, with the aim to close any gaps identified in the service.
- We will continue to strengthen our existing partnerships at all levels to improve our clients experience in the future.
- We will explain how we use anonymous data to continue our pioneering research and development within services for people who have experience sexual abuse.
Service Quality and Engagement
Our ISVA service is externally accredited by Lime Culture, and we are committed to maintaining the highest national quality standards. As part of our ongoing development, we are continually working to improve how we gather and respond to feedback from the people who use our service.
If you are currently using the ISVA service, or have used it in the past, we welcome your thoughts at any time. You can share feedback in several ways:
Provide service feedback:
- Speak with your ISVA about your experience at any point
- Ask to speak to the ISVA Team Lead
- Anonymous feedback
- Service feedback
Your ideas and experiences help us strengthen our service and ensure we continue to meet the needs of those we support.
If you would like to know more about our strategy, our processes, and procedures, please get in touch with the team. We will provide this information in a format that is suitable and accessible for you.
You Said… We Listen…
From collating our clients feedback we can then develop the service by responding to what you say.
“I appreciated the patience and understanding when I didn’t want to talk” – Adult anonymous feedback
“Having time and space between contact with my ISVA and our planned calls gave me time to think and not feel overwhelmed” – Teenage anonymous feedback
- We will discuss the level of support you want and need with you to create your individual support and frequency of contact. We know this may be different to the next person using the service.
“The ISVA was at court with us and made the family feel at ease. We knew they were there when if we had questions.” – Anonymous carer feedback
- While we offer a Child and Young Persons ISVA Service, we know that support for parents and carers is key to supporting that young person too.
“I didn’t know I could leave feedback” – Anonymous feedback
- The Saint Mary’s Team is pro-actively looking at ways to improve how we gauge your feedback, please get in touch to share your ideas and thoughts on our service