Helpline Support

We offer a confidential emotional support service provided over the telephone to self-identifying women and girls. Our volunteers will listen to you and help you find ways to express difficult feelings and talk about difficult situations. We never tell you what to do, nor do we offer advice or try to influence decisions.

Our Helpline service is provided by a group of volunteers. All our volunteers are women and are trained in supporting survivors of rape, childhood sexual abuse, or any other form of sexual violence.

Our helpline service is not a counselling service. We never tell you what to do, nor do we offer advice, or try to influence decisions. We do not claim to have any answers. Instead, we can raise questions and listen while you explore your options, and how you are feeling about managing your life. We can also provide information regarding other support services, and common ways of reacting to and dealing with the effects of sexual violence.

Our Helpline

Helpline open hours:

  • Wednesday 7pm – 9.30pm
    Thursday 7pm – 9:30pm
    Sunday 10am – 12:30pm

National Rape Crisis Helpline

Helpline open hours:

  • Daily 12 noon – 2:30pm
    Daily 7pm – 9:30pm

Frequently Asked Questions:

Will you tell anyone what I say?

You can talk to us about anything in complete confidence. We will never repeat anything you say outside of our centre. We do discuss our helpline calls with other volunteers within the service. This is to encourage each other to deliver a good and consistent support service. It also means that if you call more than once you are less likely to have to repeat anything you have said previously, when you speak to different volunteers. We ensure this information never reaches anyone else.

We do not report anything that is said to us to the police or any other outside body.
If you are under 18, we will not pass along anything you say unless you tell us your full name and address and ask us to report to the police on your behalf. We respect your right to make decisions about your own life.

You don’t have to give us your name or any identifying details about yourself, although if you find you’re ringing regularly you might want to give us a name or pseudonym (made-up name) to help us recognise you. The 1471 function is disabled on our phone line, so you can remain fully anonymous.

While we recognise the experiences and pain of men who have suffered any kind of sexual violence, here at Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Partnership we have found that a women-only service provision is an invaluable environment for many female service users. We recognise the need for specialist services for men and boys, and would recommend that you get in contact with Survivors UK, Safeline or the Male Survivor Consortium.

Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group are happy to take an initial call from men or boys, and also happy to sign post you to other services.

Our helpline is available for (self-defining) women and girls, including those with complex gender identities which include ‘woman’, and those who experience oppression as women. Self-definition is at the sole discretion of the individual in question.

Calls are charged at a local rate, and if you would like us to call you back please ask and we will happily do so. We will withhold our number when we call you back so that no-one else will be able to see who has called you (however if you have an itemised phone bill our number will appear on it).

You can leave feedback or complaints (anonymously or not) on our form located on our Contact Us page.

Any feedback we get is treated anonymously, whether it is good or bad, and helps us to improve our service. We do sometimes use anonymous comments in reports to our funders so if you don’t want your comments to be used, please tell us.