Our ethos

We fundamentally believe callers.  We undertake to support them through our services, which are underpinned with our principles of being confidential, non-directional (letting you make your own choices rather than telling you what to do), non-judgemental, and caller-led.  We believe that survivors are experts in their own healing, which is why the feedback we receive on the service is vitally important to our working.

We understand sexual violence as a problem with society, not just individuals, which is rooted in wider inequalities.  Therefore CRCC is a feminist organisation, although our members have widely varying views!  We provide a women-only service in order to acknowledge this societal problem, and because we recognise that it is the most helpful environment for the women and girls we support.

We reject the many myths that surround sexual violence, which make it harder for survivors to deal with the effects of sexual violence and to seek help.

We understand that sexism is far from the only inequality which operates in our society, and that other inequalities can increase the problems for some survivors, such as lesbian, bisexual or trans survivors, survivors with disabilities and survivors from minority ethnic communities.  Therefore we are training our volunteers to be aware of the experiences of such survivors, and welcome callers and volunteers from these groups.

Umbrella Organisations

We are an autonomous member of both Rape Crisis England and Wales and The Survivors' Trust.

Acknowledgements

Our work today would be impossible without the dedication and vision of hundreds of volunteers, staff and supporters over the decades.  Our founders and re-founders, our colleagues from national Rape Crisis and Cambridge Women's Aid, and particular volunteers who worked so hard to keep us going and produce the scoping study, all deserve special thanks.  We must also thank all our callers, for continually inspiring us.