Welcome and goodbyes

Welcomes: We are delighted to have welcomed the following new RASASC team members:

Casey in the ISVA team, and volunteers Julia, Udval and Joan in the Counselling and Admin team. Some of you may know Joan from when she volunteered on reception at the Leatherhead hub some years ago.

We have also welcomed three new Clinical Supervisors, Ravinder, Jacqui and Pam, as well as seven new volunteer counsellors, and three new Support Line volunteers. A huge welcome to all of you!

Goodbyes:  With huge thanks to Hazel and Chris who are moving on following many years’ service on the Helpline and then Support Line, and Counselling Supervisor Linda Tompkins,  who has retired after many years with RASASC. Thank you to all of you.

What's involved with being Chair of the trustee board?

"Chairing the trustee board meetings every other month is actually quite a small part of the job. We currently have a board of eight trustees, all of whom are very experienced and dedicated, and bring their own unique skills and experience to RASASC. Being a relatively small organisation, each of us helps support the charity outside the regular board meetings, working with Daisy and other members of the team, and it is my job to lead and coordinate this. Also, there are legal and statutory responsibilities associated with being a trustee and another part of my role is to make sure we get the right balance between the oversight and scrutiny this requires and supporting the organisation on a day-to-day basis."

What would you say are the key skills you bring to the role?

"Obviously, there are the commercial and financial skills from having spent the whole of my working life in business. Also, I have a pretty good understanding of the charity sector and related requirements after nine years as a trustee at The Eikon Charity. That said, I have a definite preference for working with people rather than numbers and much of my time is spent mentoring and supporting the CEO and other members of staff which also draws on my general management skills and experience from other organisations. It is also important to have the right balance between the internal focus on our systems and procedures and external focus on the environment we operate in and related challenges."

What would you say is the biggest challenge?

"Without a doubt, the biggest challenge for us is to balance the ever-increasing demand for our services with the limited funds and resources we have. The chronic delays in the Criminal Justice System have heavily affected all our services and mean that we need to support people for longer. At the same time, the cost-of-living crisis and difficult economic environment have increased the competition for charitable funds and impacted the ability of funders to support our activities. Notwithstanding the pressure on their own finances, we continue to benefit hugely from both the financial and other support from The Ministry of Justice and The Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Surrey, reflecting the excellent relationships we have developed with both organisations. However, funding from them is not guaranteed beyond this year, so the uncertain financial future means that we still need to manage our own finances very carefully." 

What have learned or had your perceptions changed about since being at RASASC?

"I probably knew this anyway, but the thing I have been most struck by is the sheer dedication and commitment of our staff and volunteers and their determination to support our service users. Inevitably, the nature of what we do can be stressful and distressing for those providing the support and I never fail to be impressed by the lengths we go to in order to help those individuals who rely on our services and ensure the best possible outcomes for them, regardless of how difficult and challenging this might be sometimes. Even when we were without office accommodation earlier in the year, the hard work of our staff and volunteers meant that our services continued uninterrupted and I am extremely grateful to everyone for that and everything they do more generally to ensure our continued success." 

Can you share something interesting we may not know about you?

"Having spent much of my working life indoors, I still try to get outside as often as possible and have been walking the South West Coast Path 'in instalments' with my wife. We started in Minehead, Somerset in July 2022 and hope to complete the journey in Poole, Dorset later this year. By then we will have walked a total of 630 miles, over more than seven weeks, up and down the coastal paths through Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, enjoying spectacular views, interesting company and a variety of places to stay on the way! The challenge now is to agree on and find the time for the next walking adventure!" 

Events are great way for RASASC to raise funds and awareness. Money raised from events is unrestricted, allowing us to spend it where it's needed most. Events also help to let people know who we are and what we do, they give people another way to donate to our work, and we can use events to forge bonds and networks across communities.

We are always looking to expand our reach, and we're keen to hear about any potential connections, ideas or contacts, that might allow us to become a chosen charity or link in with an existing event. If you are a member of a sports club, or a society, or if you have any corporate connections that you could put us in touch with then please do let us know.   

To find out about our current events, have a look at our events page, or if you'd like to do something in support of RASASC, email us on events@rasasc-guildford.org to get started!

Support Line

Over recent years, there had been a steep decline in callers to our traditional helpline meaning the service and our helpline volunteers weren't being used to their full potential.  For these reasons, we closed our helpline in December 2024, and in February 2025, we launched our new RASASC Support Line.

The Support Line provides a check in, listening and support service for clients on the waiting list for one-to-one counselling, helping to reassure clients they are not forgotten as well as providing a safe space to talk about anything they wish. The opt-in service operates from 6:30pm – 8:30pm Monday to Thursday for clients who have opted in to receive a call lasting around 20 to 30 minutes, at six week intervals.

Although our counselling waiting list and waiting times have improved, we still have large numbers waiting far too long for their one-to-one and this new service has been designed specifically to help increase our wrap around support, which includes the offer of the Online Introductory Group.

To date, 363 clients have been contacted and been offered the support line service. Of these:

• 43% have responded
• 27% opted out
• 16% have moved area or come off the waiting list
• 57% have opted in
• 89 clients have signed up for regular check in calls, and most of these have now received at least two calls.

All our Support Line Volunteers came over from the helpline following a period of training in Jan 2025. We are delighted to have retained their valuable skills and experience and be able to offer the Support Line as a more consistent use of their time. With a scheduled number of calls to make on shift, volunteers are no longer waiting for the phone to ring, they are speaking to a wider range of people, offering a range of support including signposting and grounding techniques and many have reported that they are finding the calls very rewarding.

Feedback from clients receiving the calls has been very positive with people saying how reassuring it is to know they have not been forgotten and how much they appreciate the check ins and opportunity to talk about any concerns.

If you'd like to know more, please contact Liz Barber, Support Line Coordinator

Audrey has also forged partnerships with Beauty Banks to offer free beauty products at Women's Support Centres and Probation Breakfast Clubs, as well as the Hygiene Bank to give out bags full of hygiene products to disadvantaged people. Thanks to her incredible work, we have much more of a presence across the borough.

Fundraising from events has also been very successful, with our team of 10 runners in the London Landmarks Half Marathon bringing in £7,229 between them, and supporter Felicity, who shaved her head to raise money for RASASC, raised £521.82.

We also held our first ever RASASC Christmas Campaign in 2024, which raised £3,229.15, alongside £8,956.06 in general donations to RASASC since January.

Thanks to Helen for all the hard work in securing this funding for RASASC!

Counselling

Under Ruth’s clinical leadership, the Counselling Team has worked extremely hard and made significant progress, improving and streamlining processes and response times. While we are extremely pleased to see that waiting times for one-to-one counselling have come down, we are still ambitious to improve them further.

Faster response and assessment timescales, along with our embedded six-month counselling model, have already made a difference and we expect these improvements to accelerate over the next 12 months. Importantly, clients are supported from the outset, through the offer of six-weekly Support Line calls from our skilled volunteers, along with the option to attend our seven-session Online Introductory Group. Both provide specialist support to clients on the waiting list and prepare them to engage more effectively in one-to-one counselling once they start.