Surrey's first sexual assault centre, which is set to open in November, is a space built with survivors in mind.
"It's always been a passion of mine to ensure that we are including survivors in the implementation and development of the sexual assault centre." said Samantha Grey, Surrey Women's Centre director of sexual assault services.
Last spring, Grey organized a survivor advisory committee of six survivors from different communities, "walks of life," and demographics. Grey has consulted with the committee throughout the building process.
In addition, Surrey Women's Centre launched a survivor engagement survey in November 2024, to which nearly 100 survivors responded. "We kept it open quite long, from November to April, but it felt important to get a good quantity of responses," she added. The results of the survey will be published at a later date.
"The aim was to hear from survivors about what their vision is for a sexual assault centre: What services do you want? What are your priorities in terms of receiving care? How do you want to receive care?" Grey said.
Grey said they are also mindful of what its funders might want in the space and their staff's frontline experience.
The goal is to open the centre to survivors 24/7, similar to its Surrey Mobile Assault Response Team (SMART). While the centre won't have staff working 24/7, staff will be available and on call.
The centre is open to all survivors regardless of their gender identity. In some cases, male survivors might be referred to a partner organization that specializes in helping male survivors of sexual assault.
"The sexual assault centre is going to really just kind of expand the services that already exist. So, currently, through our Surrey mobile assault response team, our folks go to the hospital and work in collaboration with the forensic nursing service, and we support survivors that want forensic care," Grey said.
Surrey Women's Centre aims to walk alongside the survivor every step of the way. The centre aims to have "wrap-around, trauma-informed support to survivors of sexual violence." It will have onsite forensic care for survivors 13 years and older who have "experienced sexual violence within the last seven days," an accessible, gender-inclusive bathroom, and an onsite police interview room for survivors who choose to report. There are also rooms for individual counselling, support groups and victim services.
Surrey Women's Centre hosted an open house on Tuesday (May 13) for a "sneak peek" of the space. The centre also launched a "survivor-created zine, 'R&R: Resistance and Resilience,'" Grey said at the open house.
The centre is currently in Phase 3 of renovating the space and program development.
Surrey Women's Centre was impacted when the province cut funding to sexual assault centres, rape crisis lines and women’s centres in the early 2000s, Shahnaz Rahman, executive director at Surrey Women’s Centre, said in a previous interview with the Surrey Now-Leader.
In October 2023, the province announced it was restoring funding to the Surrey Women’s Centre and four other centres to set up the new sexual assault centre.
The other centres that will receive funding are the Salal Sexual Violence Support Centre in Vancouver, the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre, the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre and the Prince George Sexual Assault Centre.
Surrey Women’s Centre is a women’s crisis centre in Surrey that offers a wide variety of services and programs. It works in “collaboration with the medical and justice communities for the safety and care of women and children escaping violence,” reads a post on its website.
Grey's message to any survivors who thinks they may have been sexually assaulted is, "I would say to them is to trust that instinct that something is off, that a violation occurred, and that regardless of what you did, didn't do, what you said or didn't say, we believe you and that we're here to meet you where you're at. It's not about what you should do or who you should talk to and the steps you should take. Healing looks different for every survivor, and justice looks different for every survivor."
To speak with a Surrey Women’s Centre support worker, call 604-583-1295.
