SVLO - Keele University

Sexual Violence Liaison Officer Service

Our team of accredited Sexual Violence Liaison Officers can provide support and advice to any student who has experienced sexual violence. This includes both recent and historic cases of sexual violence. The team is survivor-led and can help students to understand the reporting options available, facilitate referrals to counselling and medical services, and coordinate appropriate support across all aspects of the University. Above all, the team acts as a liaison service to ensure that students feel believed, supported and safe while they are studying.

Click here if you need to hide this page quickly

Our Sexual Violence Liaison Officer service can help you with both the emotional and practical aspects of sexual violence support. We will handle your disclosure with confidentiality and discretion, and we only share information without your consent in serious circumstances where we are required to take safeguarding measures to protect a child, adult at risk, or the wider campus community. We offer a survivor-led service, which means that we will listen and help you decide what you need going forwards. We won’t make you report the abuse to the police if that’s not what you want. We will listen and talk you through the different support options available.

We support students who have experienced any type of sexual violence or misconduct, regardless of whether it happened on or off campus, or whether it happened before or during your studies at Keele. Our service is separate to the external ISVA service.

With your consent, we can help you with:

Referrals to counselling and medical services
Academic and accommodation adjustments
Understanding the reporting options available to you
Navigating systems and resources within the University
Signposting and facilitating referrals to external specialist support such as Survive, Ascend and Galop

Please note that our service is available during standard University opening hours and does not operate as a crisis provision. You can contact the Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) team via Student Services at student.services@keele.ac.uk (please specify in your email that you would like to speak to an SVLO). A member of the team will then respond to you (we aim to respond within 1 working day) to arrange an initial appointment.

If you have experienced sexual assault within the past 10 days, you may also wish to contact the local Sexual Assault Referral Centre. You can contact the centre 24/7 on 0800 970 0372. A Crisis Worker will listen to what has happened to you, and explain how they can help and what options are available to you. You can visit the SARC whether you wish to make a report to the police or not. If you need to attend the SARC from campus, our Campus Safety team can arrange transport for you.

If you are in immediate danger, please call 999 or, if you're on campus, call the Campus Safety team on 01782 733999.

Contact our Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) team via Student Services for advice and support

A trained member of staff from our Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) team will be able to provide appropriate advice and support throughout the process and be a listening ear for your concerns.

Although our SVLOs are not counsellors, they will be able to refer you for counselling if this is something you would like to explore.

Your Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) will ensure that appropriate referrals for specialist support can be put into place for you, with your consent. This may include referrals to the following services:

Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
Police
Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA)
University counselling and mental health services
Specialist external counselling services (such as Survive, Ascend and Galop)
Sexual health services
Appropriate medical services

Where possible, appropriate adjustments will be made to enable you to continue with your course. These may include:

Liaisons with the academic school regarding timetabling and attendance
Support with exceptional circumstances claims
In some cases, alternative modes of assessment, e.g. written work to replace group work or presentations will be considered
In-person exams in an individual or smaller room
Assessment adjustments (such as extra time or rest breaks)

If you feel that taking some time out from your course will be beneficial, your Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) will be able to help you request a leave of absence from your course.

They can provide you with appropriate supporting evidence for this and will advise you of any practical and financial implications of this. If you need to request an additional year of Student Finance funding in relation to your circumstances, your SVLO may also be able to help you with this.

You will be offered support through the period of leave, as and when you need this, and with your transition back into study.

Your Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) can help you with:

Short-term emergency campus accommodation if you don't feel safe in your current accommodation
Moving to another room on campus if you live in campus accommodation already
Support for off-campus students to move onto campus accommodation on a longer-term basis

Your Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) will be able to help you understand the financial support available to you to support you with:

Urgent access to food and basic items if you have needed to leave your accommodation suddenly
Additional costs incurred due to moving accommodation
Replacement items, equipment or technology if your existing items are needed for police investigation
Transport costs if there are safety concerns about your use of public transport
Income lost if you are no longer able to work your part-time job

We may also be able to prioritise your application to the Hardship Fund, if you choose to apply.

Depending on your case circumstances, your Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) may be able to:

Inform our out-of-hours support teams about your case so they can treat any calls from you as a priority
Organise transport to take you to an emergency medical appointment, the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) or the police
Arrange for the Campus Safety team to conduct additional patrols at your campus accommodation for a short-term period
Approve a campus parking permit for you, if you're not ordinarily eligible
Enforce restrictions against the perpetrator, if the incident has been formally reported to the University