Breaking The Barriers: Sunderland event to educate and raise awareness about sexual violence
Written by Kira Hunter on 4th March 2025
Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland (RCTN) are hosting an event to discuss how to better support and understand survivors of sexual violence.
Held at Hope Street Xchange, Venue Sunderland on Friday March 14 from 2:00pm till 4:30pm, all ages are welcome and invited to join the experience. It’s focused on sharing women and girls’ experiences of seeking support and the barriers they faced so we can identify how we can work together to break these barriers and offer more support for survivors of sexual violence.
There will be formal presentations, space for discussion, networking and refreshments and cakes will be provided. Get your free ticket!
Sarah Dickson, a development worker for RCTN, said: “The event aims to promote our services in Sunderland and across Wearside”.
Sarah added that over the past few years they have been able to “increase support”, now offering it to all women and girls aged 13 over living, working and studying throughout Wearside.
The other side is to launch the piece of work they’ve been doing around ‘Breaking the Silence’ and ‘Breaking the Barriers’, providing information to help better support survivors and dismantle the myths and stereotypes around sexual violence. Fear not if you’re unable to make it, RCTN regularly puts on events.
Sara continued: “There’s always something going on to help raise awareness, we know our subject matter is very heavy but there is a lot of joy in empowering women. We want to bring that as well so we do a lot of different things.”
We spoke to seven young women in the area to get their thoughts on events like this, most of them weren’t aware organisations such as RCTN ran events to help better support sexual violence survivors, but 100% stated they’d be interested in attending. Here are some of their thoughts on breaking the barriers:
Becky Taylor, 22, a university student, thinks we need “more support in place, harsher sentences against perpetrators to deter them and higher policing in areas of high risk.”
Florence Springall, 18, from the North East, said she’d like to see: “Spreading more awareness, having resources available for people to access for help.”
Kirsten Tilley, 21, also a university student, stated: “I believe it begins from childhood and girls being told ‘boys will be boys’. The boys do not face any punishment. These boys grow into men that expect to get whatever they want.”
Infographic – Kira Hunter.
