How do I email you? If you would like to receive emotional support from us by email, you can contact us at dorothytrc@hotmail.co.uk
We aim to respond within five days and our average response time is currently three days.
What is email support? Our email support service is a free, confidential and anonymous emotional support service. Our email support service is for women and girls age over 13, from all backgrounds who are survivors of rape, child sexual abuse or any form of sexual violence. It doesn’t matter when this abuse happened, whether recently or a long time ago, we are here for you.
It is an online service where you can send us an email at any time, and one of our trained women volunteers will email you back. The email support service provides you with a safe space to share as little or as much as you would like to. If you would find it helpful, you can share difficult feelings and talk about difficult situations. We will read your email and send you a supportive response without offering advice or telling you what to do. If you would like, you can reply to this and continue the conversation, and receive ongoing email support.
We can ask questions and help you explore your options, and if you ask us for information about other forms of support, we can help provide this too.
Male survivors and supporters can find information about relevant support services here Survivors Manchester – Break the silence
I want to be anonymous when I email you – can you see my email address?
If you contact us by email, we will know what email address you contacted us from. This means that if your email address contains your name, we will know your name. If you do not want us to know your email address you could set up a free anonymous email address and use it to correspond with us. Companies such as Protonmail, Yahoo and Gmail supply free email addresses.
How long do you keep my emails?
We delete emails after two months. This means that if you email us more than once we will be able to see that you have contacted us before, but we don’t keep emails for longer than two months as a way to help preserve your confidentiality. This means that if you return to using the service after a significant break, we won’t have a record of your previous emails.
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 TRC. The volunteer team can see your email(s) and we discuss them within the service (see ‘Will I receive emails from the same person?).
We do not report anything that is said to us to the police or any other outside body.
Our confidentiality policy is available for download if you want further information. If you are under 18, we will not pass along anything you say unless you tell us your full name and address or ask us to report to the police on your behalf. We respect your right to make decisions about your own life.
What happens when I email?
When you email us, you will receive an automatic response letting you know that we have received your email and that we aim to respond within seven days.
If you don’t receive a reply within seven days, it may be worth checking your junk mail folder just in case. Please note that we are unable to open any attachments (documents, photos etc.).
How often can I email?
You can email us more than once, and if you find it helpful you can email us regularly.
If you email us more than once within a period of a few days, we will read your separate emails and respond with one reply which addresses them all.
Will I receive emails from the same person?
If you email us more than once over time, your emails will be answered by different volunteers. We use the name Dorothy to represent the team at TRC.
Our volunteers are all trained in providing support to survivors of sexual violence, and if you have been emailing regularly they will be aware that you have contacted us previously.
Volunteers discuss the emails we receive to encourage each other to deliver a good and consistent support service.
What if I’m not confident writing in English and/or English isn’t my first language?
We understand that it can be difficult to email us if you’re not confident writing in English, and we will read your emails carefully and support you as best we can.
Prank or abusive users: Email support volunteers will ignore prank or abusive emails.
