Nexus at 40: Marking our 40th Anniversary
During November and December 2024, Nexus will mark 40 years of supporting people impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships in Northern Ireland.
While we started as a group of volunteers coming together in south Belfast after a spate of rapes in the area, we have grown to an organisation which supports adults, children, and young people impacted by sexual abuse across Northern Ireland. In addition to therapeutic support through specialist counselling, we also do a lot of early intervention and prevention work through educational training and workshops in schools, communities, and organisations. We have also, since 2019, managed the regional Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline on behalf of the Departments of Communities, Health, and Justice.
Watch the short video below to hear from our CEO as she reflects on the history of Nexus and looks to the future of the organisation, and scroll down to read more about the timeline from 1984 to present, as well as what we’ve got planned to mark this momentous occasion and how you can get involved.
The story at 40
A lot has happened in our 40 years of existence. From humble beginnings as a volunteer-led, Belfast based, organisation supporting women who had experienced rape and incest, to the regional, multi-faceted organisation providing services to anyone aged 8+ impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships we are today. There have been many changes to our organisation through the decades. Our core purpose, however, remains very much focused on supporting people in our society who have been impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships – a purpose which has been the golden thread guiding us through since our inception.
Click through our four decades below to learn more about our history and the Nexus story at 40.
1984 to 1993
1984 – Set up in Belfast as the Rape and Incest Line (RAIL) following a spate of rapes in south Belfast (sources say 8 women were raped in a short space of time). This was part of the Northern Ireland Rape Crisis Association and at this time the focus was on supporting women.
1986 – Derry/Londonderry location opened on Shipquay Street.
1986 – Males were actively supported via RAIL.
1987 – Derry/Londonderry premises moved in December. 10% of clients were reported as male in 1987.
1989 – First mention of workshops being delivered to educate teachers about the contributors to and signs of sexual abuse.
1993 – RAIL became The Nexus Institute around October. The reason for this was “Nexus means link which is very representative of our work, connecting together the many facets which make up Nexus. It links together the training element, the education and awareness programme and most importantly the link or bond between the survivor and the counsellor.”
1994 to 2003
1994 – Group counselling for mothers of children who were abused began in Belfast. Department of Health funding began at least in 1994 according to this record (it was then called the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety).
1997 – Group counselling for mothers began in Derry/Londonderry.
1999 – The Enniskillen office at Irvinestown Road was purchased and the waiting list for this area reduced from two years to three months. Our mission statement at this stage was: “The Nexus Institute works to respond to the needs of adults who have experienced sexual abuse.” In March 1999 we held our 15th birthday conference in Parliament Buildings with the theme “Is there life after trauma?”. At this stage we were providing clients with 26 weeks of counselling.
2000 – The Northern Ireland Office began funding the Nexus Institute in August 2000 according to this record – this seems to be additional to the Department of Health funding which had begun at least six years prior.
2002 – Some victims had to wait two years for our counselling in the North West according to this article.
2003 – Family Educations Workshops ran in Derry to provide info & support to parents/carers and family members of people who have been sexually abused.
2004 to 2013
2004 – At this stage we had 27 outreach sites across NI in which we delivered services.
2006 – The Belfast Rape Crisis centre on Donegall Street closed due to a lack of funding.
2012 – We were still called The Nexus Institute at this stage and were offering counselling to people aged 16+ according to this article. Off the back of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal in this year, we saw a 40% increase in calls to Nexus.
2013 – The Rowan SARC opened, the first of its kind in NI. The Nexus strapline at this point was “Rape and Sexual Abuse Support”.
2014 to 2024
2014 – Nexus had 30 outreach centres across NI and 3 main offices by this point: Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, and Enniskillen. Thousands of counselling sessions and education sessions were delivered each year.
2016 – In April we were first contracted to deliver CSE training with a focus on healthcare professionals. Our outreach centres increased to 42. There was more counselling but less education work delivered in this year. Our Portadown office was still open at this stage.
2017 – In August the Co-NEX-ion post-counselling support programme funded by the Big Lottery was launched for a 5-year period. This is when Bystander Intervention and RSE workshops were first mentioned.
2018 – Rugby Rape Trial took place; following this the CEOs of Women’s Aid Federation NI, Men’s Advisory Project NI, and Nexus announced plan to launch a regional rape crisis service as this hadn’t existed in NI since 2006. Within 2018 Nexus engaged in the Gillen consultation process and responded to each of the review’s proposals.
2019 – Our 2018/19 Annual Report says“Nexus NI are delivering counselling services to a client base that is increasing annually by 20% with the same level of resources that were available to the organisation ten years ago and continue to deliver life changing outcomes to clients.” Nexus took over management of the NI Domestic and Sexual Helpline in April 2019. In May 2019, Sir John Gillen published his report on the NI Criminal Justice System’s handling of sexual violence cases.
2020 – Rape Crisis NI helpline launched in September 2020 in the wake of the Gillen Review. Nexus developed the DSA Helpline by going beyond telephone calls, and integrating email and webchat to the service in response to Covid-19 & the rapid increase in global digitalisation. The Derry & Enniskillen offices closed during this year. Our srapline changed to “Changing lives affected by sexual trauma” and ‘NI’ was dropped from our name. A new DSA Helpline website went live just before Christmas in 2020.
2021 – Our headquarters in Belfast moved from University Street to Malone Road. Our 2020/21 Annual Report reported that three-quarters of DSA Helpline calls concerned domestic abuse, and one-quarter were about sexual abuse. In February 2021 we held our first ever joint conference with Victim Support NI. We introduced OCN level 2 in Personal Success and Wellbeing as part of our Co-NEX-ion post-counselling programme. We had at least five different education & training projects running at this point.
2022 – Nexus partnered with Victim Support NI for a second year to deliver a joint conference on sexual trauma, support and justice during Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week (7 – 12 February). In the run up to the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly Election, we drafted and circulated a Call to Action Manifesto that outlined Nexus’ priorities for the next government, including mandatory RSE in schools, criminal justice reform, and increasing public funding for third sector organisations. and clients. DSA Helpline public awareness campaign around coercive control launched in August 2022 to coincide with the introduction of new legislation making this a specific offence in Northern Ireland.
2023 – Our conference in February had the theme of ‘Breaking the Cycle of Sexual Trauma’; this was where we first brought the notion of the ‘cycle’ of abuse into our strategic approach. The latest iteration of brand launched in April along with a new strategy, vision, mission, values, and strategic aims. 2022/2023 saw significant increased growth for the Early Intervention and Prevention Service. As well as attracting funding for new projects, there was a notable growth in requests for training from organisations outside of the charity sector. Topics covered included Child Sexual Exploitation, Bystander Intervention, Consent, and Healthy Relationships. The DSA Helpline’s coercive control campaign ran again in January 2023 and received the Helplines Partnership Bonner Award for Innovation. We achieved CPD Accreditation for three of our workshops and our conference. We ran two male-specific projects: PACE – for males impacted by abusive relationships (domestic abuse) across NI & RESPECT for males in North Down & Ards specifically impacted by sexual abuse and abusive relationships. We continued to make improvements to our digital presence in an ever changing world introducing a new digital fundraising platform and increasing our awareness efforts and connections via social media and email marketing.
2024 – Our RESET aftercare programme launched in April . We finished a year of training over 500 frontline PSNI officers as well as serious crime prosecutors from PPS to help improve response to people impacted by sexual abuse. g, cyber security focus etc. Focus on being fit for purpose, looking at our talent management, a Clinical Placements Strategy, a governance framework, a People Strategy, health & wellbeing and diversity & inclusion teams, and receiving accreditation for our cyber security efforts. We also received a Bronze Diversity Mark Award and ONUS Safe Place Charter Mark.
How we’re marking this milestone
To mark our 40th anniversary, we will be undertaking several different activities in the 40 days from Monday 4th November and Thursday 12th December 2024.
Events: We are hosting several small-scale, local events attended by our clients, staff, volunteers, funders, supporters, and local representatives from political parties and other voluntary & community organisations. These event are by invitation only, though you can follow along on social media as we traverse the region, stopping in several of our counselling locations to mark this milestone.
Council building light-ups: On the launch date of our anniversary campaign (4th November), several councils across NI will be lighting up their buildings in blues and/or lilac to help us highlight our presence in the area, sending a clear message that sexual abuse and abusive relationships are not tolerated in the area and that we can provide support for people who live there who have been impacted by abuse. The councils and buildings which will be lighting up for us are: Antrim and Newtownabbey – Mossley Mill Newtownabbey, Antrim Civic Centre, Ballyclare Townhall; Belfast – Belfast City Hall; Causeway Coast and Glens – Council’s headquarters at Cloonavin, Coleraine; Derry and Strabane – Council Offices Strand Road, Ally Theatre Strabane; Fermanagh and Omagh – Enniskillen Castle and Strule Arts Centre, Omagh; Lisburn and Castlereagh – Civic Centre, Lagan Valley Island; Mid Ulster – Ranfurly House Dungannon, Burnavon Cookstown, Bridewell Magherafelt; Newry, Mourne and Down – Down Leisure Centre. If you live in one of these areas, we’d love it if you could support us by getting a photo of your local building and either tagging us on social media using the hashtag #NexusAt40 or sending it to communications@nexusni.org.
Social media campaign: From 4th November to 12th December we’ll be telling our story via our social media channels, so be sure to give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We’re passionate about putting our clients at the heart of everything we do, so for this campaign we’ll be telling the stories of clients who have finished their counselling and support journey with Nexus and have kindly chosen to tell their story to help us tell ours. Some stories are heartwarming, some are gut-wrenching, and all are incredibly impactful. It’ll not be one to miss! We are in awe of all previous clients who chose to use their voice to help others and extend our gratitude and deepest thanks to all.
Fundraising appeal: Launching on 4th November and closing on 12th December, we will be running a fundraising appeal with the theme of ’40 for 40′, for which we have a goal of recruiting 40 individuals or teams to commit to fundraising for us to mark the anniversary. We even have a special, limited edition token of thanks that each of our first 40 individuals who register to fundraise for us as part of this appeal will receive. Want to join? Click the button below to register.
Below you can listen to some stories submitted to us by previous clients to help us mark our 40th Anniversary.
How we’re marking this milestone
To mark our 40th anniversary, we will be undertaking several different activities in the 40 days from Monday 4th November and Thursday 12th December 2024.
Events: We are hosting several small-scale, local events which will be attended by our clients, staff, volunteers, funders, supporters, and local representatives from political parties and other voluntary & community organisations. These events are by invitation only, though you can follow along on social media as we traverse the region, stopping in several of our counselling locations to mark this milestone.
Council building light-ups: On the launch date of our anniversary campaign (4th November), several councils across NI will be lighting up their buildings in blues and/or lilac to help us highlight our presence in the area, sending a clear message that sexual abuse and abusive relationships are not tolerated in the area and that we can provide support for people who live there who have been impacted by abuse. The councils and buildings which will be lighting up for us are: Antrim and Newtownabbey – Mossley Mill Newtownabbey, Antrim Civic Centre, Ballyclare Townhall; Belfast – Belfast City Hall; Causeway Coast and Glens – Council’s headquarters at Cloonavin, Coleraine; Derry and Strabane – Council Offices Strand Road, Ally Theatre Strabane; Fermanagh and Omagh – Enniskillen Castle and Strule Arts Centre, Omagh; Lisburn and Castlereagh – Civic Centre, Lagan Valley Island; Mid Ulster – Ranfurly House Dungannon, Burnavon Cookstown, Bridewell Magherafelt; Newry, Mourne and Down – Down Leisure Centre.
If you live in one of these areas, we’d love it if you could support us by getting a photo of your local building and either tagging us on social media using the hashtag #NexusAt40 or sending it to communications@nexusni.org.
Social media campaign: From 4th November to 12th December we’ll be telling our story via our social media channels, so be sure to give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We’re passionate about putting our clients at the heart of everything we do, so for this campaign we’ll be telling the stories of clients who have finished their counselling and support journey with Nexus and have kindly chosen to tell their story to help us tell ours. Some stories are heartwarming, some are gut-wrenching, and all are incredibly impactful. It’ll not be one to miss! We are in awe of all previous clients who chose to use their voice to help others and extend our gratitude and deepest thanks to all.
How you can get involved
Follow us on social media: You can help us mark our 40th Anniversary by following our campaign on our social media platforms and resharing our content from 4th November to 12th December. By doing this you’ll help us amplify our clients’ voices and raise awareness of our services. We’d love it if you could use the hashtag #NexusAt40 when sharing our content so we can see how far our message is spreading.
Join our Anniversary appeal: You can take part in the appeal whatever way suits you – perhaps you’ll challenge yourself to embark on a challenge to fundraise, for example completing 40 miles in the 40 days from 4th November to 12th December. Or perhaps you’d rather organise a coffee morning and invite 40 people (you could even do a virtual coffee morning!). If you’re an enthusiastic party planner, you might even want to mark the year of our inception (1984) with a fun 80s throwback party fundraiser! Or, maybe you’d rather keep things low key and simply aim to raise £40.
