This page has been printed from the Yarrow Place website http://www.yarrowplace.sa.gov.au

Yarrow Place was established in July 1993, but it was not the first service for people who have been sexually assaulted in South Australia.

The Sexual Assault Referral Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (SARC) was first established in the 1970s. It was staffed by female doctors who provided medical care and forensic examinations to victims of all ages and both sexes.

During the early 1980s, the Sexual Assault Referral Centre began to see increasing numbers of children, and increasing numbers of adults who had been sexually assaulted when they were children (known as 'adult survivors of child sexual assault'). Social workers were employed to provide counselling and practical support to victims.

In the mid 1980's, specialist Child Protection Services were established to deal with all forms of child abuse, including child sexual abuse, and so SARC stopped seeing child victims.

The Rape Crisis Centre also operated from the 1970's. It was a community based service operated by paid and volunteer women, which provided assistance for women only. The Rape Crisis Centre did not provide medical services, but referred people to appropriate medical support. They provided information, support, counselling, and advocacy as well as undertaking research and campaigning for the rights of women who had been sexually assaulted.

In 1993, the funds from both services were amalgamated and Yarrow Place was established. Yarrow Place works with and for victims of both sexes who were over the age of sixteen at the time of the assault.

In 1995, a twenty-four hour Crisis Response Service was introduced. An on-call Crisis Response Worker and an on-call doctor respond to recent sexual assaults (under a week) after hours, on weekends and public holidays. This provides better support to the victim and improves the quality of forensic services. In 1997, Yarrow Place developed its four key roles in service delivery, training and support to workers, prevention, and leadership.