LimeCulture offers bespoke consultancy services to a range of organisations including Police and Crime Commissioners, Local Authorities, NHS organisations, Government Departments, Universities and Higher Education Institutions, private and public organisations and local service providers who want to improve the response to victims of sexual violence.
LimeCulture believes that all victims of sexual violence should have access to a network of high-quality support services that can meet their individual needs.
Therefore, it is important that these services are properly funded and commissioned, robustly managed and monitored, and staffed by properly trained professionals.
The effective development and design of a service is vital in order to make sure it is fit for purpose, provides high-quality victim-focused care that is safe, and offering value for money for those who fund or pay for the service.
LimeCulture has extensive experience of working with those responsible for developing and designing services, commissioners and providers alike. We have created a range of support packages available to support the development and design of innovative, world-class sexual violence services.
Through a range of tailor-made consultancy services, we will work with you to deliver the required project or services that you want and need.
To discuss your requirements, please contact us at info@limeculture.co.uk
Needs Assessment
Conducting a needs assessment of the local population can lead to a better shared understanding among relevant agencies of the appropriate local service response for victims of sexual violence.
The evidence and impetus created through a needs assessment will provide partners with the local understanding to implement effective service development or redesign that meets the needs of the people who use the service.
LimeCulture has considerable experience in undertaking needs assessments relating to sexual violence, and through our unique skills and expertise relating to the whole spectrum of sexual violence, we are able to identify key strengths and good practice in the way services are delivered for victims, any gaps in current provision and the interface between agencies and the services they provide. Based on the findings of the needs assessment, we will make key practical recommendations for improvement.
Please contact us or email info@limeculture.co.uk for more information.
Service Review
An independent service review is an excellent way of understanding whether a service is fit for purpose, meets the needs of the people who use that services, and provides value for money. It is also a great way of obtaining an independent view as to the quality of the service that is being provided.
An independent service review will have many benefits. Ultimately, it should help the service to better meet the needs of the people who need that services, but it also provides an opportunity to:
- Evaluate the effectiveness and quality of the service that is provided
- Gather information to strengthen the provision of the service
- Provide an insight into current service provision, which can be used to monitor and measure the progress of changes that are implemented
- Help identify any barriers to effective service provision, facilitating how better access to the service could be improved
- Stimulate a more responsive service by involving staff, partners and stakeholders
- Support current and future commissioners and funders in their understanding of the service that is provided/required.
LimeCulture has considerable experience in undertaking independent service reviews, and through our unique skills and expertise relating to the range of services that are required by victims of sexual violence. As leaders in the field of sexual violence, we are able to provide credible and respected independent findings about the effectiveness and quality of a service, based on our professional judgment, coupled with the views of key staff, partners and stakeholders.
Testimonial from Gloucester Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner –
From the Gloucestershire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s perspective we were very keen to understand the current service provision and quality of the ISVA service in Gloucestershire and also to use the findings to develop a specification for the commissioning of our new and inclusive ISVA service which will commence in April 2018. We had no hesitation in commissioning Lime Culture to conduct this review and were exceedingly impressed with the team who visited Gloucestershire which included their Chief Executive, Stephanie Reardon. Their approach was of the highest professional quality and their ability to interact with key stakeholders was thorough. The final report was very well presented and has enabled us to produce a specification which has been recognised as being of very high standard and will be used by other OPCC commissioning teams within the country.
Richard Bradley, Deputy Chief Executive, OPCC Gloucestershire 2017
Facilitated Away Days
Facilitated Away Days and Events are an excellent method of addressing current issues, developing strategy and improving the performance of individuals, teams and services. A different environment, no interruptions and a skilled facilitator are great ways of helping your team or key partners to come together and focus on specific issues or themes.
LimeCulture has experience of designing and successfully facilitating Away Days and Events for a range of teams, services and stakeholders. Each of our Away Days and Events are designed to ensure that the whole team is involved and that every individual is able to contribute in a relaxed environment. The design of our Away Days and Events are focused enough to ensure all key outcomes are achieved while being flexible to respond to issues as they arise.
The presence of a LimeCulture facilitator, briefed by the team leader or service manager, will ensure that time is well spent and all individuals are able to participate fully.
Please contact us or email info@limeculture.co.uk for more information.
Many providers of sexual violence services will have years of experience, knowledge and skills to work effectively with victims, they do not always have the time, capacity or resources to enter into complicated bidding arrangements in order to secure contracts or funding to continue their important work.
Sadly, this could mean that more and more specialist sexual violence services have to close if they are not successfully winning contracts that fund the delivery of their service provision. As a result of this threat, LimeCulture has recently expanded the focus of our work to include a ‘Tendering Support’ package for providers of sexual violence services.
We can provide bespoke support to voluntary and community sector organisations who are putting together proposals, tenders or bids to provide services for victims of sexual violence as part of their local commissioning processes.
Our support will enable your service to demonstrate that you are able to deliver high-quality service to support victims of sexual violence and to make a strong case for investment.
Our support is tailored to meet the requirements of your individual service and can include a range of options and services, such as bid-writing assistance, support to develop proposals, independent service reviews, help with the development, collection and measuring of meaningful outcome information and data.
What our recent clients have said about the Tendering Support that we provided to them:
“Your support has been great and we felt that by approaching an organisation such as yourselves we would be ensuring that we got the best quality advice and guidance.”
Manager of a Rape Crisis Service that was successfully awarded a 3-year contract.
If you would like to discuss your requirements in further detail, please contact us or email info@limeculture.co.uk
OUTSpoken Review
In February 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement North West (NHSE&I) requested a three-phase review of the OUT Spoken Talking Therapy service delivered by Survivors Manchester in HMP Buckley Hall to identify learning to support the implementation of the OUT Spoken Service in other prisons in the North West.
Lincolnshire Needs Assessment Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault and Abuse
In February 2020, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire and NHS England/NHS Improvement Midlands (‘NHSE/NHSI’) jointly commissioned LimeCulture CIC to undertake a needs assessment for victims/survivors of sexual abuse and/or assault which aims to identify for Lincolnshire;
- The physical, mental and sexual health needs of victims/survivors of sexual assault/abuse,
- What are effective responses to victims/survivors and how can they be achieved,
- The current services available to victims/survivors, • Whether there are any gaps in service provision/availability, • Whether there are any operational barriers to implementation and delivery of services for victims/survivors and how these might be overcome.
The needs assessment was commissioned to cover all ages (adults, children and young people) and include key recommendations to inform future commissioning decisions about services for victims/survivors of sexual assault/abuse.
Needs Assessment for Sexual Violence and Abuse Survivors in Nottinghamshire
In late July 2019, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire (PCC) and NHS England & NHS Improvement Midlands commissioned LimeCulture Community Interest Company (CIC) to undertake a Mental, Physical and Sexual Health, Social and Economic Needs Assessment for Sexual Violence and Abuse Survivors in Nottinghamshire. The purpose of the needs assessment is to inform the commissioning of services by identifying the needs of sexual violence and abuse survivors, the support services required and the likely demand in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence
LimeCulture Community Interest Company (CIC) worked in partnership with Mankind, Safeline, Survivors Manchester and Survivors UK to develop distinct service standards for working with males who have experienced sexual violence..
To support the implementation of the standards LimeCulture is delivering a programme of Independent Accreditation, Monitoring and Support which will allows services implementing the standards to achieve a quality mark against the standards.
For further details of the Quality Standards and the Independent Accreditation Process please click here
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Truth Sessions Pilot Project – Delivery and Management of Support Service
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse commissioned LimeCulture to develop, manage and deliver the provision of support for individuals engaging with the Truth Sessions, a pilot project that was delivered during November 2015. LimeCulture worked with three trusted partners to ensure that information and advice, access to support workers and counsellors was available for all those who took part in the pilot project.
Independent Review of Survivors Manchester ISVA Service
LimeCulture was commissioned by Survivors Manchester to undertake an independent review of their Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) service, which was initially created as a pilot project. The aim of the independent review was to ensure their pilot ISVA Service was fit for purpose and to ensure the operating model was correctly aligned for the future.
LimeCulture undertook a two-stage review in order to allow interim findings and key recommendations from the first part of the independent review to be embedded into the service following the pilot phase.
Report of Findings from Awareness Training for Multi-Agency Professionals
In May 2014, the Home Office commissioned LimeCulture to carry out a review of five Multi-agency awareness raising events delivered to a range of professionals during January and February 2014.
The report outlined the training that was delivered to professionals to raise awareness and understanding of the issues faced by girls and young women affected by gangs. The report also outlines the good practice that was identified by professionals as part of the events, through discussions and feedback.
This report also included a summary of the evaluated feedback forms completed by 198 attendees and therefore provides a good insight into the views of the attendees as to whether the events were a successful way of meeting the Home Office’s objectives to improve the knowledge and understanding of these issues amongst professionals.
The report also captured the feedback from the trainers who over the course of the five events were able to discuss a wide range of issues with a large number of professionals from a range of organisations.
Exploring the Possibilities for Collaboration to Provide Services to Support Victims of Sexual Violence in West Yorkshire
LimeCulture was commissioned as part of a project funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire, to explore the possibilities for collaboration to provide services to support victims of sexual violence.
This work included developing and designing interactive workshops for service providers to come together to look at the strategic development of local services for victims. The aim was to see how services for victims could be delivered through a partnership approach.
LimeCulture worked with a range of local service providers to identify the possible mechanisms for collaboration, creating a shared vision, overcoming barriers, identification of next steps.
Standards and Guidance for the Medical Examination of Adult and Child Sexual Assault Victims
The Forensic Science Regulator for England and Wales commissioned LimeCulture in partnership with Principle Forensic Standards Ltd (PFS) to draft the standards and guidance for medical examination of adult and child sexual assault victims. This work also included the development of a judicial primer, which outlines what standards should be expected by the criminal justice process.
These standards are the first of their kind, and ultimately seek to raise the standards of the provision of medical examination of victims following a sexual assault.
Health Needs Assessment of Children Under the Age of 13 Who Have Been Sexually Assaulted in the East of England
Between January and March 2015, LimeCulture CIC was commissioned by NHS England to undertake a Health Needs Assessment of children under the age of 13 who have been sexually assaulted in the 6 areas that make up the East of England (Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex).
This comprehensive piece of work looked at the full range of specialist services that are available for children under the age of 13 in the region and based on prevalence data, service-level data and information provided by key informants (including staff, partners and stakeholders) was able to identify good practice, gaps in services provision and key recommendations for improving the services that are available for children under the age of 13 who have been sexually abused.
IAPT
In May 2017 LimeCulture was commissioned to develop a service specification for a talking therapies service for survivors of sexual violence.
This work was to build on work in the last ten years, where statutory partners have worked together to set up sexual assault referral services (SARS) across England. These services provide an appropriate environment for survivors to receive all care required, and to provide evidence in the immediate period after disclosing the incident(s). The services are comprehensive. However, they do not offer talking therapies for survivors who wish to access support in the period after the incident(s). It is expected that survivors would access such services within their own communities on referral from a GP.
Despite this expectation it is believed that a significant proportion of survivors do not access such services. This may be because they do not wish to disclose the matter to their GP, or because there is pressure on services, or because services specific to this need have not been commissioned.
The service specification developed by LimeCulture
- Described a talking therapies service which responds to the needs of survivors of sexual violence
- Described an all-age service, so that children and young people are provided with an appropriate service
- Proposed specific forms of therapy with rationale for selecting these
- Proposed the length and frequency of sessions for an individual survivor
- Proposed the quality standards which the service should aim to reach
- Proposed indicators against which the service can be assessed
LimeCulture has delivered a number of engagement exercises consisting of structured interviews to capture victim/survivor experiences of the police and support service throughout key points in the criminal justice process; Initial report, During the investigation, Key decision points including Police and CPS decisions, Pre and Post Court
The engagement processes and question frameworks are developed according to the following principles
- Safe and trauma-informed
- Person-Centred and Consent
- Boundaried
Feedback from Police / Commissioners is these engagement exercises have significant value and provide the opportunity to
- obtain independent feedback on the CJS systems locally
- allowed changes to be made to practice and processes
- informed training for Police
- supported business cases for system change
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