The Star Project based in Wakefield Surviving Trauma After Rape The Star Project Star Project  
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HISTORY

1.

Background to the Project
1.1 The Star Project (Surviving Trauma After Rape) is a jointly funded initiative between the West Yorkshire Police Authority and the four Health Authorities within West Yorkshire (namely Wakefield, Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale and Kirklees Health Authority), aimed at improving the provision of services to victims of rape and serious sexual assault.
1.2 Established in November 1994, the overall purpose of the Project is to identify the needs of adult victims of rape and sexual assault and to co-ordinate the provision of specialist services to meet those needs.
1.3 Over a period of years it had become apparent that women who had been raped and who needed help could wait up to 3 years for an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Evidence suggests that the provision of early counselling support in the immediate post- rape/serious sexual assault period reduces the likelihood of long-term psychological effects. Fact finding visits to Sexual Assault Referral Centres set up in Manchester and Newcastle (St. Marys and Reach Centres respectively) led professionals from West Yorkshire to consider the establishment of a service based on this model. However, the geographical size and spread of West Yorkshire, which includes large cities like Leeds and Bradford, small towns and villages and large rural areas, meant that a centre-based project would not give adequate access to all our residents.
1.4 This resulted in the development of a unique model which operates by providing locally based volunteers (Initial Support Workers) who support clients in their own homes, together with professionally qualified counsellors who work from various premises throughout West Yorkshire, providing a range of interventions from clinical, therapeutic and practical perspectives. Counsellors and ISWs are contracted on an annual basis to work with clients sessionally, which enables STAR clients to have a choice of gender, ethnicity and sexuality of worker, as well as easy access and flexible appointments.
1.5 The demand for the service has risen year on year, both from police, and non-police referrals. To date, the STAR Project has seen over 1700 adult women and men.
1.6 During 2000 the STAR Project was successful in a bid under the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme - Reducing Violence against Women Initiative, to develop the service to work with young people from the age of 14 upwards. This work began in February 2001 and to date, the STAR Project has seen 50 young people.