All WoW services will close on August 16th 2014, when the charity will fold. If you would like help and support you could try phoning another local organisation Norfolk LGBT Project 01603 219299, or email their new women supporting women group wsw@norfolklgbtproject.co.uk starting in August 2014
You can contact us on the following number from August 3rd 2011:
- Tel (mobile) 078403 10200 Weds-Fri 10am-6pm and Sats 10am-5pm
Call for more info about WoW, how to get involved, for a chat or to find out more about the befriending service.
Call for support and information, details of the drop in and local services supportive of the LGBT community
We look forward to hearing from you!! And we’ll call you back to save your costs in calling a mobile.
Our volunteers offer confidentiality, and work from home during these hours. So you’ll appreciate we hope that sometimes its not possible to get to the phone, but please leave a message, and if you leave your contact details,we’ll call you back during opening hours, with discretion.
- You can also email WoW in confidence wownorwich@hotmail.com.
We are based in Norwich, Norfolk,UK. Our drop-ins are run every Saturday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. For details of location, please contact us. We’d love to see you there!
Wow is a Registered Charity. 1056719.
If you’re interested, I’ve included our telephone policy and full service description here:
WoW offers:
- A confidential telephone service, for social and supportive contact, also offering information and advice on local services and social events. It is run by lesbian women for lesbian and bisexual women, and women who have sex with women.
- We also listen to family members, close friends and partners, as well as professionals working with women.
- We offer telephone consultancy to professionals working on behalf of these groups of women, either in regard to particular clients or to help improve the quality of services.
- We can offer face to face training, consultancy, supervision and interface work to professionals whose work brings them into contact with lesbian and bisexual women. (For these services contact the Co-ordinator)
- We offer a telephone, email, and for some women, an instant messaging befriending service. This is primarily for older women, but no woman will be refused on the basis of her age.
The phone-line is often the first “port of call” for women who are exploring their sexuality, and their feelings about themselves. Our service is not a counselling service, and the phones are answered by volunteers who are trained to listen, and to respond appropriately, respectfully and sensitively to callers. We aim to be approachable and friendly, and callers can remain anonymous if they choose.
Our team is able to offer advice and information on a range of practical issues, and to signpost callers to local resources and services where appropriate. If we don’t have the information, we will try to find it.
We offer emotional support, and try to give honest feedback and responses to callers. We may make suggestions, or offer ideas, but our aim is always to support callers to follow their own interests, make their own choices and find their own best way forwards.
We can assist with reporting of homophobic and/or racist incidents, taking information and details which can be passed on to the Gay Liaison Officer (without disclosing your identity if you so choose). We work closely with the Police in this area.
We do not offer one to one contact with callers, except by our telephone/email befriending project, which callers can sign up to receive with an assigned and supported volunteer.
Confidentiality Policy
The service is confidential. This means that what is talked about with us, or emailed to us will not be shared with other people, except those within the WoW team, or in volunteer’s supervision.
Exceptions to this would be:
If a caller discloses abuse of a minor (under 16), workers would then try to support the caller to take the appropriate steps towards disclosure under Child Protection policy.
Or, if a wow volunteer is told about, or thinks that their caller may be experiencing abuse. It is their duty to report this to the wow co-ordinator following the policies on this at all times. (see Vulnerable Adults Policy, and Emergency Support Process).
We keep written records of calls – time of call, length of call, first name of caller if given, and a brief summary of the content of the call. This is to ensure continuity of service, and also enables us to continue to develop the service in response to the needs of our callers. Records are accessible only to WoW workers, or individuals who request records relevant to themselves. These records are destroyed after 3 years.
WoW Volunteers offering the email-befriending service will not share email addresses with anyone other than the co-ordinator and other email volunteers.
All email contact and email addresses are stored securely, in a password protected computer, and will not be shared, other than with Wow volunteers in the shared role of monitoring the WoW inbox.
Any hand written letters and correspondance addresses will be stored with the other records securely.
Women on Women/reg. charity 1056719/updated July 2011/Jo Foster
You can also email WoW in confidenceat wownorwich@hotmail.com.
We are based in Norwich, Norfolk,UK. Our drop-ins are run every Saturday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. For details of location, please contact us via email. We’d love to see you there!
Wow is a Registered Charity. 1056719.
