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A Manual for Specialised Sexual Assault
Crisis Telephone Counselling

The NSW Rape Crisis Centre launched it's "Best Practice Manual for Specialised Sexual Assault Crisis Telephone Counselling" in October 2003.

The Centre contracted Dr Fiona Rummery to consult with staff, compile and write the manual. Fiona has been working as a psychotherapist, trainer and consultant between Sydney and the Blue Mountains for the past 9 years. Prior to this, she worked for some time as a sexual assault counsellor with the Health Department. She has lectured over the past 8 years in a variety of university settings, teaching counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Western Sydney for the past 7 years, as well as enjoying teaching diverse subjects on feminist studies, social justice, women and violence, and women and mental health at the University of Sydney.

The purpose of this manual is to be a guiding document to assist the workers at the Centre in their daily work.

The manual represents a significant part of the process of standardising the approach taken by counsellors when assessing and managing those who contact the Centre for assistance.

This manual was written over a period of 12 months. The ideas contained within it derived from extensive consultation with all the counsellors at NSW Rape Crisis Centre, other health professionals working in affiliated areas, and other counsellors specialising in sexual assault. As such, the manual represents the synthesis of a vast body of knowledge and array of experiences. As a document it has been enriched by the input of all who were involved.

This Manual is also intended to be a "living document" which will be updated and improved in an ongoing fasion. Within NSW Rape Crisis Centre it will be reviewed regularly to remain current and helpful to workers.

Dr Fiona Rummery
PhD BSW (Hons) BA

The Manual covers:
Section 1:  The NSW Rape Crisis Centre - Policy and Practice
Section 2:  Initial Stages of Contact
Section 3:  Ongoing Contact and the Case Management Process
Section 4:  Crisis Intervention - a Six Stage Model
Section 5:  Risk Assessment : Self-Harm & Self-Mutilation
Section 6:  Risk Assessment : Suicide Interventions
Section 7:  Risk Assessment : Child Protection Issues
Section 8:  Survivors of Sexual Violence: General Issues
                    - Drug and Alcohol Abuse
                    - Easting Disorders
                    - Dissociation

Copies of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre Manual are available for $10.00 - THIS MANUAL IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT.

"The core experiences of psychological trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others. Recovery, therefore, is based upon the empowerment of the survivor and creation of new connections." Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, 1992, Basic Books, USA.