As international Women's Week got under way this week, a vital service for women in York was under threat.

A combination of lack of funding and volunteers, coupled with no permanent home, means York Rape Crisis is now experiencing its own crisis.

Volunteers Mary Elliott and Rachel Thomas are calling for help to support their work with women who have been raped or sexually abused.

York Rape Crisis is the only specific counselling service for women in York and North Yorkshire who have been raped and organisers say without urgent action women will not get the support and counselling they need.

Miss Thomas, a member of the 12-strong collective which runs the charity, said only eight volunteers are active and they need more help.

Mary Elliott, who is taking a Masters degree in social work at York University, is currently on work placement with the charity and is looking at ways the group can move forward. From studying other Rape Crisis groups around the country, she believes the group needs four full-time workers - a co-ordinator, two counsellors and a specific counsellor for young women.

She said: "We need paid workers in order to continue to offer a full service. Young people need specialist care and help when they have been a victim of rape. It is a different approach to the support that adult women need and I am looking into the kind of service that would be needed to meet young women's needs.

"It's crucial that Rape Crisis develops in terms of paid workers."

The group has been run by volunteers since it formed in 1986 and offers a helpline, counselling and support and an innovative psychodrama group - which uses drama and action methods to help women deal with rape.

Miss Thomas said: "Rape is an issue of everyday life and people cannot ignore this and push it under the carpet like it doesn't exist. Our work is vital. We do our very best, but more is needed."

Miss Thomas said they also receive a number of calls from women who have been subjected to satanic rape, ritual abuse and date rape.

The group can be contacted on York 610917.

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