It's been a long time coming, but when Bristol's new rape crisis centre opens this summer it will provide a vital service, supporting victims of sexual assault.

Bristol used to have a rape crisis centre several years ago, but it closed due to funding problems.

But there's now a groundswell of consensus nationwide that sexual violence needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, says Elaine Hutton, one of the women behind the campaign to open the centre.

"In the early 1980s, the rape conviction rate was about 25 per cent," she says. "Now it hovers at about five, six per cent, and in Bristol it's even worse.

"We thought it was low then – I was involved in one of the first rape crisis centres in the 1970s – but it's plummeted since then."

Even though the centre is not yet open (it hopes to launch in June or July), women have already started approaching the group for help, which shows how badly the service is needed, says Elaine.

Bristol City Council has also been very supportive, providing funding of £75,000 a year for three years. The rape crisis centre hopes to work closely alongside Bristol's first sexual advice referral centre (Sarc) which opened last month although they are different in nature.

Rape crisis centres, which originally developed out of the feminist movement in the 1970s, are voluntary rather than statutory bodies and their approach is very women-centred, whereas Sarcs counsel both male and female victims of sexual assault.

And while Sarcs tend to deal with recent victims of assaults, rape crisis centres often find their clients have been assaulted years beforehand says Gwen Williams, another volunteer at the centre.

"A rape crisis centre provides long-term support and advocacy for women who've been attacked, and it's not necessarily recently, it could have been years ago," she says.

"There's no expectation around going to the police, it's about listening to women, although we will, of course, support people through the criminal justice process if that's what they want."

The centre will launch with a telephone helpline and counselling service. "Longer term, we'll also get involved in educating people on issues around assault," says Natasha Mulvihill who chairs the organising body. "We'd like to talk about issues such as consent in schools and would also hope to provide resources for teachers."

They're in the process of appointing a centre manager and start training helpline volunteers in late April/early May.

This week, there are three introductory sessions in Bristol for volunteers – at Barton Hill Settlement from 7-9pm tomorrow night, at Bristol University's Students Union building on Saturday from 2-4pm and next Tuesday from 7-9pm at the Southville Centre.

Natasha says: "Things do feel very positive. This time next year the position in Bristol will be so much better because we'll have a Sarc and a rape crisis centre."

■ For more information email info@bristolrapecrisis.org.uk