Dear All,
Hello. I do hope this finds you well.
As we gallop towards December, there’s no ignoring the unsettling events and circumstances across the world that can sometimes weigh heavily upon us.
Delays in the Criminal Justice System, overstretched services, shocking revelations from institutions that should be there to protect us … these are all things that can sometimes leave us feeling powerless. However, for the survivors accessing our services, while we can’t (yet) stop the reasons they come to us in the first place, we can stop them having to go through recovery alone, and that is because of you, your motivation and support.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you for everything you do and for making a difference to survivors across Surrey.
Something else we can do is spread the word about our first ever RASASC Christmas Appeal (read more about this below)
We know that, given the opportunity, more and more people want to donate to services such as ours. Our campaign is running throughout December and if we can get the word out there, we are hopeful that this will generate much needed interest and, ultimately, funds.
With best wishes,
Daisy
Staff Survey
A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our recent staff and volunteer survey, we had around 30 responses.
It’s really important that we understand what is and isn’t working for you as employees and volunteers, and there were several areas that we highlighted as working well – such as support from colleagues within the organisation, RASASC being a nice place to work, and gaining value from helping others, as well as some areas for improvement such as workloads, resourcing for roles, communication and managing change.
However, it was wonderful to see that everyone who responded overall enjoys working for RASASC and feel that they are valued.
I will take some time along with the board to look at the areas for improvement, and I will be back in touch with the next steps once we have had time to review these.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do let me know, feedback is essential if we are to grow as an organisation and is always welcome.
Children In Need
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the recent Children in Need bid, I’m delighted to say we were successful in being granted £110,000 over three years for our youth counselling service.
The funds will allow us to expand our services with the aim of reducing waiting times for young people so that they can get the support they need to move forward with their lives.
Trustee Board
Kevin Young, our Treasurer has been appointed as the new Chair of our trustee board. Also, a warm welcome to Ben Sutcliffe who joined the board this week. Ben brings a wealth of communications experience with him, having an extensive background in press and PR with Sky TV and more recently, Huawei.
I’m sure you will join me in congratulating them both. To find out more about all of our Trustees, visit the Trustee page on our website
Christmas Appeal
We’re launching our first ever Christmas Appeal this December. We’ve partnered with GiveMatch, on an exciting scheme that means when someone donates, they will get a unique donation link. They then need to share their donation link with their friends and family and if two of their friends donate, their original donation is doubled. And for two weeks from 1-14 December, donations will be tripled!
The appeal will run from 1st -31st December, and you can visit our donation page here. Please do share it with family and friends.
More information about the campaign and how you can get involved will be coming round next week, including graphics for you to add on to your e-signature to raise awareness of the appeal.
Do speak to Helen Stanley if you have any questions.
Shout Outs
Congratulations to ISVA Roxy, and Helpline Volunteer Chris, who were put forward to represent RASASC at the carol service at Westminster Abbey on 6th December, we hope you have a wonderful time!
RASASC Christmas drinks
Don't forget about our Christmas drinks from 4pm on Friday 13 December at Chancery House. Please RSVP to admin@rasasc-guildford.org by 6 December if you'd like to come, just so we know numbers to cater for.
And for those that want to, do feel free to carry on the celebrations at The Drummond afterwards!
Everyone is welcome.
Recruitment
We were delighted to welcome new ISVA Alice, and new Counselling Coordinator, Davina recently. We are also extremely fortunate to have been joined by superstar Volunteer Administrator, Julia, who has been making a huge contribution to the day to day operations at Chancery House.
We have a second Volunteer Administrator, Udval, starting with us on 3 December, and welcome several new Volunteer Counsellors; Julia, Naomi, Nidhish, Emily, Pauline, Liz and Julia.
We're also looking for an Engagement and Fundraising volunteer, there is more information and a job description on our website, please do share with anyone who may be suitable!
Wellbeing
We have arranged a staff and volunteer yoga session for Tuesday 3 December. You can sign up via the google doc but please note, there are only 6 spaces for this session. If it proves popular, we can look into offering more.
There’s also a massage session on Thursday 12 December from 10am-2pm offering chair massage, Thai foot massage and reflexology. To sign up, add your name next to an available space on the massage sign up document.
Helpline closure
I’m sure you are aware that our helpline service will be closing on Thursday 12 December. While this marks a departure for RASASC, calls to the helpline had greatly reduced over the past few years and we were very aware that we weren’t making the most of the skills and expertise of our brilliant helpline volunteers.
To address this, we will be launching a Support Line in February, that will offer wellbeing support to those on our waiting list for counselling. This means we can retain the knowledge and expertise of many of our existing volunteers, while also offering support to those on our waiting list for counselling.
You can find out more around the changes to our helpline through our news story.
Christmas Opening/Closing
Please note that the RASASC offices will be closed from Wednesday 25 December, reopening on Thursday 2 January 2025.
I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing break.
