History

The Women's Supportline Southland Inc began in 1981 as a telephone service staffed by volunteers working from their homes. WSLRC began before a Womens Refuge was set up in this area so they dealt with a broad range of issues such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, health issues and general information pertinent to women.

Since the opening of the Invercargill Women's Refuge in 1982 the Women's Supportline maintained a liaison with the Refuge group which has allowed the Supportline to concentrate its efforts in the area of rape, incest and sexual abuse.
The WSLRC was a member group of the National Collective of Rape Crisis and Related Groups since its inception in 1984.

In 1988 WSLRC moved into offices in the Southland Women's Resource Centre, where the service was extended beyond a telephone service to one where women could drop in for information or seek immediate face to face assistance. In 1990 the Women's Centre closed and WSLRC members resolved to buy their own premises, this was achieved in May 1992 with the purchase of 26 Nelson Street.

In June 1993 a full time counsellor was employed and with volunteer assistance services were once again extended.

In 1995 Hine Tuturu Ki Murihiku was established and a part-time Bi-cultural Community Worker/Educator was employed to work within the Community and schools in the Southland District.

At this time the management body of the organisation was run as a Collective, made up of paid and unpaid workers, promoting a non-hierarchical structure within the organisation where decisions were made using consensus.

Early 2008 we again had a name change to Rape and Abuse Support Centre Southland Inc so that our services once again dealt with abuse as well as sexual issues, we had 2 full time staff and one part time.

The Centre was refurbished with an internal face lift mid 2008.

2009 saw the restructuring of RAASC policies and governance and we changed from a Collective to a Board with the decision making process still by consensus where possible. We embraced our Incorporated Society status and opened up membership to the wider community. March 2009 saw our Charitable entity status confirmed by the Charities Commission and a new constitution embraced. Our service was opened to include male survivors to cover a need in our community and we took on our first male counsellor and started our website.

8th April 2009 saw the centre reopened to commemorate our new governance, freshly refurbished building and altered direction within the organisation. The Centre was reopened by Mayor Tim Shadbolt.