Service spotlight – AXIS Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) service
Service Spotlight - Axis ISVA
Axis ISVA service recognises that it can be hard to report a rape or sexual assault. Axis have an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) service who is there to help anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted, or sexually abused at some time in their life either in the past or present.
The ISVA service believes in choice, empowerment and providing information to help make informed decisions about the future. They are an independent professional organisation with a qualified and highly skilled team.
An Independent Sexual Violence Advisor who is known as an ISVA can talk to you in complete confidence and will listen and support you through what you are experiencing. They will offer impartial information about your options and choices when navigating through the criminal justice system. ISVAs are support workers and advocates who are entirely focused on you and enable you to access those services you may need in the aftermath of the trauma you have experienced. Our ISVA team will treat everything in the strictest confidence and be guided by your wishes. The support provided will vary dependent on your needs and particular circumstances. What happens next is entirely your decision.
For all clients they will:
- Assess your needs and risks to you
- Develop an individual service specific to your needs
- Help to access services to which you are entitled
- Provide face to face and telephone contact
- Help develop your own support network
- Explain criminal, legal, and if relevant civil remedies and housing options
- Keep other agencies informed about important changes.
- Consider child protection issues and follow local safeguarding procedures.
We offer support to both adults and children and young people aged 5-17, across both Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire. We have specialist ISVAs who can support different backgrounds; LGBTQ+ ISVA, learning difficulties ISVA, ethnic minorities ISVA and teen DV ISVA. We also have a family ISVA who is able to offer emotional and practical support to any family member who is impacted by someone experience sexual violence, they can support children and young people family members as well as adults.
To refer into this service visit our website and select self-referral or professional referral.
Training
Axis ISVA service currently offers two types of training.
Introduction to sexual violence (Free) (Taster)
3-hour course delivered in person - covering the following areas:
- The clear definition of “Sexual Violence”
- What the role of an ISVA is in relation to victims/survivors of sexual violence and/or abuse and the different ISVA specialisms
- We dispel some of the myths of sexual violence
- Explain the definition of consent
- Identify the signs of sexual violence
- Communicating and responding to concerns of sexual violence/abuse and using the appropriate language
- Identify the impact of sexual violence on the victim and their family
Accredited training course
Level 3 certificate “in the mind of a victim” (There is a fee attached to this course) delivered in person over 4 sessions.
The accredited course will incorporate a more in-depth version of the unaccredited course. Candidates will be going into the mind of a victim, by using case studies, and understanding the impact that it would have on a victim’s beliefs, values, motivation, behaviour. Also looking at the appropriate language and communication to use and what happens when it triggers a victim. We also look at a victim’s destructive thoughts and how to police them more effectively. All candidates on this course will have to answer many of the questions as if they were the victim within the case study.