2015 – A new year with lots to look forward to!

Happy New Year from the LimeCulture Team!  We are already a week into the new year and are very excited about 2015, which promises to be another wonderful year for LimeCulture. We hope that it is a great one for all our friends and clients too.

So what have we got planned for the coming year? Well, quite a lot of exciting stuff as it happens! You may – or may not – be aware that LimeCulture has 4 main areas of work, which are:

  • Training & Professional Development
  • Service Development & Design
  • Research
  • Bespoke Consultancy

block_juggleLimeCulture Training & Professional Development

Since LimeCulture was established in 2011, we have intentionally focused a lot of energy on the training and professional development aspects of our work. We have established very successful training programmes for ISVAs and Crisis Workers and frequently deliver bespoke training for professionals working with victims of sexual violence, such as police officers, doctors, SARC Staff etc. This year, we will continue to focus on our training programmes with as much enthusiasm as in previous years, but we will also expand the number of training courses that we offer, to ensure all those working in specialist sexual violence services have access to excellent training opportunities. More information about our new training courses will be announced in the coming months, so watch this space!

From now until the end of March 2015, we will continue to train our current 2 cohorts of ISVAs -who are half way through the ISVA Development Programmes. We are now the leading providers of ISVA training, having trained over 130 ISVAs since 2011. We will be running a further 2 ISVA Development Programmes in 2015 – one to start in the Spring and another to start in the Autumn (dates to be announced in the coming months). The Spring dates have now been confirmed and can be found on our website by clicking here.  Those of you who want to undertake professional ISVA training, get in touch with us for a booking form.

On 16 January, we will be holding a Workshop for ISVA Managers. This 1-day course is aimed at those who are responsible for managing ISVAs and/or ISVA Services. The demand for this Workshop has been huge since we launched this course back in 2012 and our 4th Workshop is fully booked. We will be holding another Workshop for ISVA Managers on 16 June 2015 and bookings are now being taken. Please contact us if you want to attend the next Workshop for ISVA Managers.

In February, we will be holding the Advanced Development Programme for experienced ISVAs. This 3-day CPD training event was piloted in July 2014 and the demand for places has been astonishing! We will be holding another 2 ADP courses during 2015/6 to try and meet the demand from trained ISVAs who are keen to expand their knowledge and skills. The next ADP will be held in September (dates to be announced soon) but there is already a waiting list in place, so for trained ISVAs who want to attend the next ADP, please get in touch to be added to the list! Please note, we will now only be accepting ISVAs who have completed professional accredited ISVA training on to this course.

Our bespoke training has grown from strength to strength, with services commissioning us to design and deliver training to meet the specific needs of their individual services. In 2014, we were privileged to deliver in-house training to a range of sexual violence services, including the SARCs in Northern Ireland, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. This year, we have already been commissioned to deliver bespoke training to a range of services including specialist sexual violence counselling services in the voluntary and community sector. We are also looking forward to working with the SARC staff at the Sunflower Centre in Hertfordshire later this week and next for their bespoke training.

We are delighted to be working in partnership with National Ugly Mugs this year. We have successfully secured funding to develop and deliver specialist training with them and we can’t wait!  Here at LimeCulture, we are passionate about ensuring each and every victim of sexual violence has access to high-quality support services, and that most definitely includes sex workers. We can’t think of anyone better to champion this important cause, so we are thrilled to be work with National Ugly Mugs. Details of the training will be announced soon.

 

block_treeLimeCulture Service Development & Design

Last year, we put in a lot of time and energy to our service development work and we will continue to do so this year. We believe there is a real need to continue to develop and enhance the specialist sexual violence sector in this country and this is the ultimate aim for our service development and design work. With more and more people reporting sexual violence, both recent and historic, it is important to ensure that each and every person who comes forward can be provided with the best possible service of support, wherever they may be in the country. There is no place for a post-code lottery of service provision.

We are really looking forward to working with Survivors Manchester between January and March 2015. LimeCulture has been commissioned to undertake an independent review of their male-only ISVA Service, which is currently being piloted by this highly innovative service based in Manchester. The findings from the review will be used to inform the development of their ISVA service going forward.

We are delighted to have been commissioned by NHS England to undertake a health needs assessment for children under the age of 13 who access sexual assault referral centres across East of England (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk). This development work is hugely important to understanding the specific needs of child victims and ensuring they are appropriately met. We are really passionate about the role that SARCs have in supporting victims, and given all the experience we have of working with SARCs across the country, we are very pleased to have been successful in being awarded this work – we can’t way to get started! We will be taking this work forward over the next few months and will keep you posted as to the progress of this project which will inform the development of services in the region for children under the age of 13.

We are keen to progress the offer of Tendering Support for providers of sexual violence services which we launched at the end of last year and wrote about in a 2014 blog post, which can be found by clicking here. Through our Tendering Support work, we are able to support providers (or potential providers) to secure contracts or funding to help them in delivering their work. The support available from LimeCulture is tailored to meet the needs of the organisation but can for example include bid writing assistance or support to develop a proposal. We were very pleased to learn this week that RASASC (Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre), a specialist sexual violence service that we worked with to provide tender support in December 2014, have been successful in being awarded a 3-year contract for counselling and ISVA service provision in Cheshire. LimeCulture worked closely with RASASC to assist them in putting together an excellent bid for a commissioned contract that is jointly commissioned by NHS England and Police & Crime Commissioner in the North West.

LimeCulture Research

We will soon be publishing the findings for the National Audit of ISVAs, which we conducted with King’s College London between late August and September 2014. As huge supporters of the ISVA role, we are fed up with the lack of awareness and knowledge about this incredible workforce, so we decided to find out more ourselves! 146 ISVAs from across England and Wales and 1 ISVA from Scotland took part in the audit and told us all about their roles- and how they do their jobs, their clients and the services they work for. The findings are incredible and we can’t wait to publish this important piece of work in the next few weeks.

LimeCulture Bespoke Consultancy

This year, we plan to expand our bespoke consultancy work and build on the success that we have had in previous years in undertaking one-off or bespoke pieces of work, such as the work we have been doing for the Forensic Science Regulator of England and Wales. This work includes drafting the Guidance and Standards for forensic medical examination of adult and child victims of sexual violence. We hope to see these standards launched later this year, following a public consultation. We are delighted to have been involved in this important work as it will go a long way to raise the standards and ensure consistency in forensic medical examinations following sexual assaults. For more information about bespoke consultancy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

So all in all lots of great things planned for 2015, with lots more things in the pipelines that we are not yet ready to be anounced

block_cardContact LimeCulture

If you would like to contact LimeCulture to discuss any of our work- or indeed to enquire about how we can support any of the work that you or your organisation do – get in touch with us! We’d love to hear from you.

You can contact us by email – info@limeculture.co.uk

or via our website  – www.limeculture.co.uk

or by completing the contact form below and one of the LimeCulture team will get back to you as soon as possible!