Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service (PARCS) has received £5,000 to fund a specialist counselling service for domestic abuse survivors in Portsmouth.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
PARCS aims to prevent and respond to all forms of sexual and domestic abuse by providing a range of dedicated services including an outreach and prevention programme, and specialist therapeutic support and counselling for survivors of sexual and domestic abuse and their families. PARCS’ work is undertaken by a small team of paid staff and volunteers funded though the provision of contracts, grants and local fundraising.
The grant will assist with reducing waiting times, ensuring survivors of domestic abuse can access vital specialist counselling. This will in turn help support them to improve their coping skills and resilience, decrease feelings of social isolation, increase self-esteem and confidence, and reduce self-blame associated with rape and abuse.
Penny Valentine, Business Development Manager at Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service, said: “PARCS is very grateful as this grant has enabled us to increase the current provision of specialist domestic abuse counselling for local residents, ensuring survivors can access timely support which addresses the psychological and emotional impact of domestic abuse.”
Stephen Philbrick, Branch Manager at Santander’s Portsmouth branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations to local projects every year with the aim of assisting organisations, communities and vulnerable people throughout the UK. The staff at our branch know the valuable work Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service does in our community and we hope this grant will help them in their support for local people.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Leonora Burtenshaw at Santander
Email: Leonora.burtenshaw@santander.co.uk Tel: 020 7756 4543
Kim Hosier, Centre Director at PARCS
Email: kim.hosier@parcs.org.uk Tel: 02392 669514
About Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling (PARCS)
PARCS is an organisation based within Portsmouth City that works with people who have been sexually violated at any time in their lives, no matter how long ago.
For more information please visit: helplines.org/helplines/parcs-portsmouth-abuse-and-rape-counselling-service/
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2018, the bank has c24,200 employees. It serves around 15 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.