1 1 A RAPE CRISIS CAPE TOWN TRUST COUNSELLING SKILLS COURSE: A QUALITATIVE EVALUATION

i South Africa is faced with an alarming rate of rape, leaving women violated, traumatised and having to face medical and legal battles. Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust is an organisation that trains and supervises a team of women counsellors who provide a counselling service to women rape survivors. The aim of the present study is to explore, qualitatively, the experiences of the counsellors and the counselling co-ordinator regarding their perceptions on whether the training provided by the personal growth and counselling skills course is adequate in dealing with rape and its complexities. Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust has taken the plight to help counsel women who have been raped as well as the create awareness and lobby against the patriarchal influence and gender inequalities and stereotypes that perpetuate this form of violence against women. A feminist standpoint theory provides the theoretical framework for this study as the woman of rape crisis centred viewpoint suggests that their voices be heard as the training provided by their Rape Crisis branch has been very valuable, however insufficient to deal with the complexities of rape. The trauma of rape impacts severely on the lives of rape survivors and the counsellors are faced with more that just the rape in counselling sessions. Many women experience divorce, serious psychiatric conditions, suicida