FAQs

Who do you support?

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) offers support to all survivors aged 12 and over in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian who have experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives. This includes rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse and childhood sexual abuse.

What support do you offer?

ERCC provides a wide range of specialist trauma-informed, survivor-led support. You can choose to have your support sessions face-to-face or online.

support following a recent rape or sexual assault
long-term support
advocacy for survivors navigating the criminal justice system
STAR project for young survivors aged 12 –18
SIA – support for survivors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds
support for student survivors
art therapy
group support
outreach in East Lothian and Midlothian

What areas do you cover?

ERCC offers support to all survivors aged 12 and over in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. ERCC has outreach support services in East Lothian: ELSAS and Midlothian: MSAS.

For survivors living in West Lothian, the Domestic and Sexual Assault Team (DASAT) provide a specialist service for adults and children in West Lothian who are experiencing, or have experienced domestic abuse, gender-based violence and provides support to survivors of sexual violence.

Where do you offer support?

ERCC is based at 17 Claremont Crescent, EH7 4HX and has outreach support spaces across Edinburgh. These include Wester Hailes, Dalry and Leith. Our advocacy service has a support space at the Sycamore Centre in the South of the city (Gracemount/Kaimes area).

ERCC has East Lothian and Midlothian outreach support spaces at various locations and we strive to see you at a location that is accessible for you. For example, ERCC has spaces in Musselburgh, Penicuik and Tranent.

What times do you offer support?

We offer face-to-face and online support sessions between 9am – 7pm, Monday – Friday.

How do I make a referral?

To make a referral please text our service mobile on 07966 067 301 or call our call back phone on 0131 556 9437 and leave a message for us. Please leave your contact details such as your mobile number or email address for us to contact you on. Calls won’t be answered but we check this each working day.

Survivors can also contact us via our secure webform and someone will respond as soon as possible.

Do you have a waiting list for support?

Unfortunately, due to the demand for support, there are waiting lists for all our services. When you get in touch, we will let you know how long the average wait for support is.

How do I cancel my appointment?

To cancel an appointment please text our service mobile on 07966 067 301 or call our call back phone on 0131 556 9437 and leave a message for us. You can also email suppport@ercc.scot to cancel your session in advance.

Do you have a drop-in service?

We do not have the space for drop-ins. We only offer support by appointment.

How do I join group support?

Our discussion and art therapy groups are for survivors over the age of 18 in Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian. They are for survivors who have received one-to-one long-term support from ERCC or another service. If you’d like to join one of our groups or would like further information please email us at: group@ercc.scot

Can I bring someone with me to my session?

You can bring someone with you to support you getting to the centre, but they aren’t able to be part of the support session. Unfortunately, we don’t have any waiting areas. However, there are cafes nearby.

Can I change my support worker?

We know that it is important for some survivors to have a choice over their support worker, and we strive to meet these needs.

When accessing our support services we offer survivors an initial meeting to help identify your support needs. In these, we will explore any preferences or barriers you may have and accommodate these as best we can.

If you want to change to a different support worker, we will of course prioritise that and do whatever we can to provide you with the right support. This is the very basis of a survivor-led approach, which is foundational to ERCC support and advocacy services. You will have control throughout your support process.

Confidentiality

What you tell us remains confidential within our support team. We will not give anyone any information about you. We will not tell anyone that you are being supported, unless you want us to – for example, if at a later date you decide you want to report your rape or abuse to the police. Then, if you want us to, we can inform them that you have contacted us.

However, the exceptions to our confidentiality policy would be if:

A disclosure is made that indicates a child, young person or vulnerable adult may be at risk of harm or is being harmed. We would then share this information with other agencies, as this is a legal requirement. A support worker will always strive to discuss this with you first and if you want us to, we will support you throughout the process.
There is significant concerns about your safety and wellbeing. In this scenario we have a duty of care to share that information with appropriate services such as GP, or other medical services for safeguarding.

ERCC team – who works at ERCC?

Within the ERCC team, we have a diverse group of women and non-binary workers and volunteers who are committed to supporting survivors. They are trained to provide a high standard of trauma informed support.

Do you support men?

Yes. We offer support to all survivors aged 12 and over who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives.

In 2015 we opened up our STAR project support service to boys and young men aged 12-18. In 2023, we extended this to all our support services to include supporting men who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives.

Do you have women only times?

Working within the National Rape Crisis Service Standards, we recognise the importance of women only spaces, and are committed to the provision of dedicated times and spaces within our centre for women and girls.

Our women only times are: Tuesdays 9am – 5pm at our centre located at 17 Claremont Crescent. We understand that this time may not be suitable for everyone. In such a scenario, we will actively work with you identify an appropriate time and venue for your appointment.

I need help to attend my sessions – can you help with transport costs?

We have an Access Fund to cover transport costs for those who could not attend support otherwise. If you are concerned about transport costs please contact us.

I need help to attend sessions – how accessible is your building?

We have eight steps to our building and a mobile wheel chair ramp that we can put in place before your session. We have a downstairs disabled access toilet.

We have other support spaces across the city, which have disability access too.

We can help you with taxi costs if you have limited mobility and need help to access support.

I need help with childcare to attend my support session – can you help?

We have outreach venues, which provide crèche services to make support for accessible for survivors with caring responsibilities.

English is not my first language – can you support me?

Yes, we can. Within our staff team, we are able to offer first language support in Hindi, Urdu, Polish, Mandarin, Arabic and Spanish. If you need support in an additional language that we do not have available in our staff team, we can still support you and can arrange for an interpreter.

Is your support free?

All our support services are free.

Any contribution you can make helps us to keep supporting survivors of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse. You can donate via JustGiving.

If you’re interested in supporting our work through fundraising you can email us at info@ercc.scot.