1. Telephone Volunteers

Our telephone volunteers provide a confidential listening and support service 24-hours a day 365 days of the year. All our telephone volunteers are specially trained to listen carefully and to give support and information and are committed to keeping the calls strictly confidential. They are there to talk with you, they will listen and understand the issues around sexual violence. They understand it can be difficult to talk about these issues and will offer encouragement and support to anyone who makes a call to the helpline. They will listen with empathy and will not judge or criticize feelings or actions.

We take calls from all over the country, from women and men of all ages who are concerned about issues of sexual violence. Every caller is treated as an individual with respect and dignity and given the time and understanding they need to get the help and support they deserve. Repeat callers are also welcome.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has a dedicated group of volunteers who are available to offer support to women and men who are attending the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

The experience of any form of sexual assault is traumatic and forensic testing, where sought, like any other medical examination can be stressful. Our experienced and trained volunteers are available in the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit to explain the procedures involved and to offer support to those who require it.

This service is also offered to families and friends accompanying those attending the Unit.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has a group of trained volunteers who are available to accompany clients of the Centre to court hearings.

As part of our ongoing education and awareness campaign the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has an outreach programme where specially trained volunteers will visit schools, community groups, etc. to provide information on and to promote awareness of all aspects of sexual violence. If you are interested in having such an input please phone us here in the Centre and we can arrange for our outreach team to visit you.

Here in the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre we recognize that we could not offer such a wide range of services without the ongoing support of our dedicated volunteers. They are the backbone of the organization. We are committed to their care and training. All volunteers receive extensive training from our volunteer coordinators and other staff members before selection for one of the above programmes. In addition we provide regular supervision meetings which allow volunteers to share insights and receive mutual support. These meetings also include ongoing training and inputs from other organizations as required.

We recruit for our volunteer teams once a year (usually in January). If you are interested in volunteering for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre you can phone or email us for further information.