The Glade – Sexual Assault Referral Centre
The Glade SARC – Sexual Assault Referral Centre
The Glade Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) has two centres located in the West Mercia area – one based in Bransford, Worcestershire and the other in Wellington, Telford. We provide specialist forensic intervention and aftercare services to men and women living in West Mercia who have experienced rape or sexual assault, recent or non-recent.
The Glade SARC is a specialist centre which provides a service of care to anyone aged 18 years and above who has been raped or sexually assaulted. As part of the SARC’s service, survivors may be provided the option of attending for a forensic medical examination. For those survivors who have reported an assault to Police, a SARC medical examination may be offered as part of their investigation. If a medical examination is not appropriate, a survivor may still be invited to attend the SARC to have any injuries documented.
For survivors who are unsure whether they want to report to the police, if it is appropriate the SARC may offer the option of attending for a forensic medical examination to gather and store forensic evidence for up to two years, allowing the client to think about their options.
The SARC operate a 24 hour self referral line which can be used by survivors, their friends, family or professionals. A dedicated Crisis Worker will be on hand to discuss options and provide information. This may include referrals to other support services.
If the assault was more than seven days ago then the evidential benefits of a forensic medical examination are likely to be very limited. In some circumstances, however, there may be a good reason to carry out an examination, either to set your mind at rest regarding injury or to secure some evidence of historic injury. Even if you don’t need or want such an examination there are many services such as counselling or ISVA that would be of benefit to you and we can arrange those services for you. It may be that we refer you to the most appropriate local support organisation to provide this.
Our full range of services include:
Crisis Worker Support
Forensic Medical Examination (if appropriate)
Emergency Contraception
HIV PEP Risk Assessment
Pregnancy Testing
Referral to Sexual Health for screening of Sexually Transmitted Infections
Referral to Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA), Counselling or other supporting agencies
All genders aged 18+
The Glade aims to provide a range of services to survivors of sexual violence, however there may be time whereby the SARC are required to share information under the terms of their confidentiality agreement. This includes if the SARC believe a child or children may be at risk of harm, if the survivor is likely to harm themselves or someone else, if there is a risk to national security, if the offender is in a position of trust or if their is a significant risk to the survivors safety.
The service is confidential unless there are safeguarding concerns (see above).
Alternatively the survivor has the option of attending the SARC with the Police if they have reported.
Yes – the survivor is given the option of their preferred gender.
Crisis Workers (Advocates), Clinicians (Doctors, Nurses and Midwives), Manager and Coordinator. There may be times where we make referrals to a qualified counselling service with the survivors consent.
