Regina Sexual Assault Centre - Regina

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, western societies experienced a resurgence of feminist collective activism. This activism focused on addressing the inequalities that women were experiencing in all areas of their lives. In June of 1975, Denise Hildebrand and Abby Ulmer opened the doors of the Regina Women's Community Centre with a vision of promoting the equality of women within their own community. An initial grant from the Province of Saskatchewan provided funds for a drop in, referral and counselling service, as well as a lending library and advocacy.

In February 1977, the addition of a sexual assault crisis line improved the Centre's ability to respond to survivors of sexual violence and provide crisis and long-term counselling. 

In January 2013, the Centre changed its name to the Regina Sexual Assault Centre. This was done in an effort to be more inclusive to all genders of adult survivors of sexual violence. The change was to reflect the diverse individuals we serve and make the Centre welcoming and accessible to all.

In 2017-2018 the hashtag #MeToo made international headlines, prompting individuals to publicly share their experiences of sexual violence. While the movement has encouraged many individuals to come forward with their experiences, it is also triggered and re-traumatized many survivors. As a result, RSAC saw a large increase in requests for services and our resources were completely exhausted. The number of crisis line calls doubled, and the Centre went from having no waitlist to an eight-month waitlist for those who need counselling support.

Since 2016, we have grown from five staff to eight and are involved in and offer a range of services and supports, including counselling by MSW educated counsellors, extensive public workshops and professional development, psycho-educational groups, children's programming and a number of collaborative community projects. We recently began offering dedicated counselling space to individuals from the Moose Jaw area to better meet these needs. Unfortunately, our community's needs outstrip our capacity and we continue to have a lengthy waitlist. However, we are vocal advocates for increased mental health capacity and strive for the best supports we can offer.