Wokingham

A Wokingham counselling and support service for victims of rape and sexual assault has been launched at ARC, the counselling service at 35 Reading Road in Wokingham town centre.

The free and confidential service is open to any victim (male or female) in the Wokingham Borough and is being supported by Wokingham Borough Council, the Police, Berkshire Women’s Aid and the national charity, Victim Support. It will offer victims the chance to talk to expert counsellors about their experiences and will be completely confidential – the advisors will not pass information on to anybody (not even the police) unless the victim wishes it.

Wokingham Borough Council community safety officer Carol-Anne Bidwell said: “In the past, rape victims from the Wokingham Borough had to travel to High Wycombe or Basingstoke for this sort of support and counselling and so it is a great step forward to be able to offer it in Wokingham Town Centre.

“The counselling offered is completely tailored to the victim’s needs – there is never any pressure to talk about things that they are not comfortable with and the counsellors never tell the victims what to do or judge their actions – they are there to listen and help the victims make their own decisions.

“It is also important to stress that the victims who report the crime to the police will be referred to ARC, but victims going to ARC will not be referred to the police unless they want to be – the service is completely confidential.”

Rape and sexual assault victims can make an appointment to talk to a Wokingham counsellor by calling ARC on (0118) 977 6710. The office is open from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday and 10am to 1pm on Saturdays but messages can be left outside of this time.

Cllr Bob Wyatt, deputy executive member for Wokingham community safety and member of ARC’s management board, said: “It is very important to have a counselling service such as this because of the dreadful nature of these crimes. The Wokingham Borough is a very safe place to live and work but sexual assaults can happen any where and we must help local victims as much as possible.”

Wokingham Borough Council