The region's leading sexual assault support service has re-branded to improve accessibility for sexual assault survivors.
The Loddon Campaspe Centre Against Sexual Assault will now be known as the Centre Against Sexual Assault Central Victoria.
CASA chief executive Kate Wright said the name change would improve support for survivors of sexual assault.
"We were getting feedback from our stakeholders and clients that Loddon Campaspe was quite confusing to them," Ms Wright said.
"So we decided to adjust our name to reflect the geographic region that we cover, while keeping the Centre Against Sexual Assault central to our name."
CASA Central Victoria supports people in the Greater Bendigo, Campaspe, Macedon Ranges, Central Goldfields, and Mount Alexander regions.
CASA chair Sonya Oper said the name change would reflect the centre's outreach locations.
"We're hoping it could potentially broaden our reach," she said. "We know in smaller communities they don't necessarily have the access or are aware of the services.
"It means they potentially can access that support and it might improve our reach in terms of outreach work."
CASA Central Victoria's annual report showed the centre supported 1068 people in 2018-19.
More than 180 of the centre's clients were between the ages of 15 and 19, while 38 per cent of the clientele were under 18.
The number of men that accessed CASA services increased by 25 per cent in the past year, while female clients have increased by five per cent.
Ms Wright said demand continued to increase throughout the year, with waiting times extending out to as long as six months at some points.
"Our wait lists are always an ongoing worry for us because we can't meet the needs of everyone immediately," she said.
"One of the things we've done to address our waiting list is we've more than doubled our intake team and created a team of five people who are responsive to people immediately."
Ms Wright said there were more sexual assault cases in central Victorian than other parts of the state. She said it could be due to a number of factors.
"I think it's a mix of the fact we have done a lot of work with the community to improve their awareness," Ms Wright said.
"We've done a lot of work with the community so they know where to go to actually seek assistance and there's a greater trust in going to Victoria Police to report the crime.
"So it's hard to say whether it's increased safety in reporting and knowing you're going to get a service, or if it's increased incidents."
Ms Oper said a key focus of CASA Central Victoria in the next year was education.
"We would like to see a world without sexual assault," she said. "That would be our ultimate goal.
"But education is key. We have a Phd that we will be doing next year that will be looking at sexual assault in rural and regional areas - the reasons for it, responses to it, and how we work with that.
"It's about preventative measures. As the awareness grows on the impact of sexual assault, people are seeking support and educating themselves as professionals on how to report to people who are disclosing."
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Tara Cosoleto
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
