RAPE victims are being forced to wait up to three months for counselling amid soaring demand for support.

Around 50 victims have been placed on a waiting list for Rape Crisis Glasgow because support workers are already swamped with huge case loads.

The support charity - which helps women and children from the age of just 13 - has claimed it needs £50,000 to cope with unprecedented demand from survivors of rape and sexual assault.

On the occasion of their 40th anniversary, the charity has launched a ‘£40 for 40 years’ campaign urging people to donate enough money to provide two-hours of counselling for victims in need.

In the last year alone, Rape Crisis Glasgow has received 11,351 calls, texts and emails from victims of sexual crime - a 100 per cent rise on the previous years.

Not included in the figures are the huge number of “silent calls” from rape and sexual assault victims too afraid to speak.

The centre, based in Bell Street in the Merchant City, also supports rape survivors at drop in sessions but because so many people attend, workers don’t always get the chance to speak to everyone, said centre manager Isabelle Kerr.

Staff and volunteers have provided face-to-face support to 866 women in the last year but Ms Kerr is urging local people to donate money to help reach everyone needs support.

“Sadly, at the moment, we don’t have the resources to meet the very high demand," she told the Evening Times.

“We need more people and we need more space.

“We have 50 women and family members who are waiting for support at the moment and given the huge caseloads our workers are carrying, those on the waiting list could be waiting for up to three months.

“We’re desperately trying to raise enough to provide additional support hours to reduce the waiting list and increase the support we can provide at the drop-in.”

Ms Kerr has led the centre for a decade but said she could never have predicted the steep rise in demand.

Some of this can be attributed to increased awareness such as high profile cases such as the Jimmy Savile scandal, she said.

Reliving the trauma of their own experiences

- can lead to a spike in calls from local victims forced to relive their own personal trauma.

The centre manager said: “Survivors were telling us that, when Jimmy Savile was constantly in the headlines, they just could not escape it.

“They said the wide spread coverage was bringing back their own painful memories and that they could not get involved in conversations at work, for example, and they were worried people might be wondering why.

“We can see a similar rise if there is a rape storyline on a TV programme.

“BBC crime drama Shetland is a recent example.”

She added: “Survivors may be getting on okay but then someone makes a ridiculous and inappropriate comment in the media about women being responsible for being raped and all of those feelings come back.”

Ms Kerr said that although the number of violent crimes in Scotland are decreasing, the number of sexual offences being reported are on the increase.

The Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre works with police through a Support to Report service for male and female victims of sexual violence going through the justice system.

The centre, which receives some grant funding, currently has 22 paid members of staff, mostly working part time, and 22 volunteers.

The volunteers man the helpline and can often be the first person a rape or sexual assault victim shares their story with.

Isabelle added: “The circumstances of each person who contacts us varies greatly.

“It is not uncommon for us to support a young woman and her parents as well, for example.

“It takes a great amount of courage for anyone to get in touch and we do get silent calls - where the person wants to talk but, despite making the call, they are still struggling.”

To make a donation text GRCC16 £10 to 70070 or visit www.justgiving.com/rapecrisiscentre or www.rapecrisiscentre.co.uk.