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Winners 2003
Individual Award: Shahidah Janjua
Shahidah Janjua, been pivotal to many services which exist to combat violence against women and support women who have been abused. She has been a remarkably resourceful campaigner, a member of Justice for Women and sat on the Board of the Rape Crisis Federation.
Group Award: South Essex Rape & Incest Crisis Centre
South Essex Rape & Incest Crisis Centre, one of the most dedicated and innovative services responding to rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse in childhood.
Oher Nominees 2003
Individuals
Alice Anson - Alice, who is about 80 years of age, has been an inexhaustible volunteer for local voluntary women’s groups for 30 years, including Watford Women’s Centre, and Harrow Women’s Refuge. She was one of the founder members of Rape Crisis South West Herts, in 1986, and since that time she has been actively involved in all aspects of the helpline and in face to face counselling of numerous women and girls. She has played a major role in fundraising for the group, and has addressed groups and organisations, run stalls at fêtes and used any and every opportunity to raise money and awareness of the issues. She has done much to alleviate the suffering of many women and girls and help them on their journey of survival.
Jude Boyles - Jude started out many years ago working in women’s refuges and as a volunteer at Rape Crisis, before training as a counsellor. For the last eleven years she has worked within mental health services, and, within these services, tried to raise the profile of women and mental health issues. In recent years she has worked in London as a counsellor at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and Organised Violence, and is now the Coordinator of the NorthWest Medical Foundation. Throughout this time she has been a passionate and selfless campaigner around issues of rape and violence against women, and she carries this politics, insight and determined belief in the possibilities for change, into all the work that she undertakes, paid and voluntary. Her continued dedication to Justice for Women, Campaign to End Rape, and Truth About Rape, has proved inspirational to other women: she plays a vital role offering life-changing help and support, making a real difference to all of the lives she touches on.
Denise Marshall - Denise became Chief Executive of Eaves Housing in January 2000, having worked for almost 20 years in women’s organisations. The organisation provides supportive accommodation to individuals often perceived as belonging to an ‘undesirable’ social group, including ex-offenders, substance and alcohol abusers, those with mental health needs, survivors of child sexual abuse or domestic violence. In a remarkably short time, Denise has extend the work of the organisation to provide a direct services refuge for those fleeing domestic violence, and acquired funding for a project focussing on women and violence, which is fast becoming an authoritative research source. She has also been central to initiatives for supporting women who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation, including the Poppy project, providing a safe haven for women internationally who had been forced into prostitution in the UK. Eventually the Home Office began to take notice of this work, and have involved Denise in work to support this difficult-to-reach group. Her work, and that of the organisation she manages, has done much to support and empower women whose lives all-too-closely resemble that of Emma Humphreys.
Janet Owen - Janet worked tirelessly to prevent the threatened closure of the Bangor Rape Crisis Line because of lack of funding. Not only has she been an inexhaustible fund-raiser for the line, she has been active in raising awareness of the issues, drawing attention to the need for such a line, by involving local and national media, politicians, and anyone who could support the cause. She has also played an important role in developing and implementing an education programme for children and young people, both to increase understanding of sexual violence and abuse, and to make sure they know that help is there if they need it. As a result of her energy, commitment and enthusiasm, the Bangor Rape Crisis Line has received funding which will provide a secure future for the next three years.
Maggie Parks - Nine years ago, Maggie and a small group of women founded WRSAC as a response to the lack of services in Cornwall for women who suffering sexual abuse or domestic violence. They started with limited resources (a filing cabinet and a telephone) and a great deal of determination. Today the organisation employs 13 women and has 38 well trained volunteers. Every year Maggie has personally led the recruitment and training of new volunteers, and this in-depth, life-changing, 13 week course, has been undertaken, for free, by over 150 volunteers since WRSAC started. Since 1994, Maggie has fought for the continued existence of the services offered by WRSAC and has worked to raise over £750,000 for various projects. WRSAC has raised the profile of issues around sexual abuse and domestic violence, and made the case for women-only outreach services in a rural area of relative poverty. Maggie has played a central role in building partnerships with key statutory agencies. A great example is the successful bid to the Home Office in partnership with two local councils, police and probation. The work in question, which now receives core funding, led to increased reporting of incidents, reductions in withdrawn statements, better use of civil actions and a reduction in repeat offending. Maggie never rests, and she is currently involved in piloting another project, a 24hr/7day response to women in Cornwall reporting sexual assault to the police. She is an inspiration to the women she has trained, worked with and supports.
Julia Wassell - Julia was nominated for her courageous action in exposing the sexual abuse of women by male patients at Broadmoor, and the failure of the system to protect this highly vulnerable group of women. As Director of Women’s Services at Broadmoor, Julia worked tirelessly to improve the quality and safety of women detained there, and, following suspension from her job, had to take her battle to court to vindicate her actions. As a direct consequence of her fight to change attitudes and behaviour towards women in secure hospitals, action has been taken to change practices where women were previously at constant risk. This was achieved at great personal cost, and Julia is commended for her refusal to be silenced on this issue.
Andrea Williams - Andrea is the longest serving member of Colchester Rape Crisis Line, which was established in 1989. She was, and remains, the back-bone of the organisation. From its humble beginnings to its present strength, with eleven volunteers staffing the helpline and offering counselling, outreach and advocacy support. The fact that the organisation has been able to reach such a large number of women and girls is largely a consequence of Andrea’s generosity, incisive vision, dedication and hard work. This year, she took a significant pay cut, leaving her university post to take a position at CRCL as a Youth Support Worker, working with vulnerable and disenfranchised adolescents. Her knowledge and expertise in this area has earned her the trust and respect of local schools, where she is regularly asked to educate teachers and staff; she has also participated in national research on this subject. She is an inspiration to those who have worked alongside her over the years, and she has gently and fearlessly accompanied many women and girls as they face and overcome their personal tragedies, and realise the strengths and potential in themselves which they thought had been extinguished.
Gail Thompson - Gail was one of the founding members of the Redcar and Cleveland Women’s Aid outreach support group, which is based in the rural area of the borough. Gail has fought for the last five years to recover from the effects of the violence inflicted on her by her ex-husband. The effects of the violence experienced by Gail have been widespread, and the impact was felt by her children, family and friends. For her appeal to the Criminal Injuries Board, Gail was encouraged to write down everything she could remember about the violence. At the appeal, no police evidence was produced; it had apparently been misplaced, and Gail could no afford legal representation. The appeal panel said that Gail should have reported the attack at the time; although Gail was not capable of telling anyone anything at that time. She lost her appeal, and RCWA are supporting her in continuing to pursue her claim for justice for herself and her children; they have also published a booklet in which Gail has written her own story. She has full custody of her three children; their father continues to harass them in the street and bribes them with money for information on Gail’s life. Gail is determined to get justice, and wants to continue to write and publish her experiences and support other women to do the same. Gail’s nomination acknowledges her struggle, and recognises her courage in fighting on.
Groups
Women & Girls Network - WAGN was established in 1987 as a community based organisation providing women and girls with a specialised, comprehensive range of therapeutic services aimed at facilitating healing and recovery from experiences of violence. It is a pan-London organisation, which adopts the widest interpretation of violence against women, including physical, sexual or emotional violence linked to current, recent or past events. The organisation provides individual counselling, group work, complementary therapies and a telephone helpline. It also provides training programmes for women working in the VAW field, and have developed courses specifically designed to meet the needs of women engaged in front-line or face-to-face work. WAGN recently ran a counselling programme for the Lilith Project; it was a multicultural course designed to further equip women workers with the tools to support, inform and empower women who have been exploited and oppressed through experiences of violence. Women who accessed the course were unanimously enthusiastic about the benefits. Another positive initiative for WAGN has been its collaboration with the POPPY project, providing counselling for women who have been trafficked into the UK for prostitution. The work of WAGN sustains women in their battle against the trauma manifested through their experiences of violence; incorporates essential affirmation for women and girls who have been denied a sense of self worth and respect; and puts the principles of multicultural teaching and woman-centred empowerment models into practice. WAGN have been nominated for incalculable support for survivors of violence and women working in the VAW field.