Charity boss’ apology to rape survivors over support centre row

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Charity boss’ apology to ***** survivors over support centre row

Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of ***** Crisis Scotland, says she will not stand down in the wake of a controversy over single-**** spaces

A charity chief executive has apologised “unreservedly” to ***** survivors affected by failings at support centre in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh ***** Crisis Centre came under ***** when

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found it had ******* to provide women-only spaces for 16 months, and that its CEO – trans woman Mridul Wadhwa – had not acted professionally or understood the limits of her authority.

Sandy Brindley, of ***** Crisis Scotland, said she found out the centre was not following national standards last October and paused referrals 11 months later when the review said safeguarding was a problem.

She told BBC Scotland’s Drivetime programme there was no reason why transgender people could not work in ***** support centres, but that services must also provide women-only spaces.

Ms Brindley stressed that ***** Crisis Scotland, which is the national charity that sets service standards for member centres, had no involvement in hiring Ms Wadhwa – who stood down from her role after the review of the Edinburgh ***** Crisis Centre (ERCC) was published last week.

However she said there had been “no reason” not to agree with the appointment at the time as Ms Wadhwa had significant experience of working in the sector.

The role Ms Wadhwa had is reserved for women only – which under

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includes trans women who have a gender recognition certificate.

Ms Wadhwa took over the ERCC in 2021 – before this guidance was updated.

Acknowledging that Ms Wadhwa’s appointment had been controversial, Ms Brindley said: “I was not involved in that appointment or that decision. But what I would say is that most ***** crisis centres in Scotland provide support to men, women, trans people and non-binary people.

“There is no inherent reason within that, that you could have a trans person working within a ***** crisis centre.

“I think what is crucial however, is that if you do have a ***** crisis service, that is supporting all survivors is that there’s dedicated women-only spaces within that.”

Ms Brindley added she “absolutely recognised” that women-only spaces were a priority for many women using ***** support services.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Edinburgh ***** Crisis Centre

Ms Wadhwa arrived in the *** in 2002 while living as a woman in her native India. Her passport said she was female. She has been been working in the the ********* against women and equality sectors in Scotland since 2005.

She has previously tried to stand for election for the SNP but was not selected as a candidate and later joined the Scottish Greens.

In an interview with

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news service, she said that coverage of claims she was “legally male” had unleashed “a host of hate” and that the focus on having a gender recognition certificate was ******* as well as transphobic because it ******* to take in Indian cultural norms.

In an interview with the Guilty Feminist podcast in the same year, Ms Wadwha was asked about ***** survivors who might be uncomfortable with the presence of trans women in spaces such as ***** crisis centres.

In her response, she said that “******* ********* can happen to bigoted people too” and that if ***** victims hold “unacceptable beliefs that are discriminatory in nature we will begin to work with you on your journey of recovery from trauma”.

Controversy arose around the Edinburgh centre when an employment tribunal found in May of this year that a counsellor – Roz Adams – had been unfairly constructively dismissed over her belief that people who used the service should be able to know the **** of the staff that would be dealing with their case.

Ms Wadhwa was highlighted in the tribunal outcome as she appeared to believe that Ms Adams was transphobic.

***** Crisis Scotland then commissioned legal consultant Vicky Ling to review the Edinburgh service.

Ms Ling found that the centre had ******* to protect women-only spaces for 16 months and that Ms Wadhwa “did not understand the limits on her role’s authority, when to refer decisions to trustees and ******* to set professional standards of behaviour”.

The report also said there was “evidence that the actions of some ERCC staff had caused damage to some survivors”, and that concerns had been raised that some women were “excluding themselves from approaching ***** Crisis Centres including ERCC” because of their aproach to gender identity.

Ms Ling also said she had been made aware that some professionals had heard that “some survivors did not feel safe using the centre”.

After the report was published, ***** Crisis Scotland said it would pause referrals to ERCC – though people can still self-refer – until it was happy the review recommendations had been put in place.

Ms Brindley said she knew nothing of issues at the centre until October last year.

She said she then advised the ERCC board to settle the case rather than proceeding with the employment tribunal and acknowledged she should have been aware of the conflict sooner

Ms Brindley added there had been “significant failures” at the ERCC and she hoped to introduce a “robust framework of assessment” to make sure the national standards are followed and that women-only spaces are provided in future.

Groups including For Women Scotland, which has campaigned against changes to transgender rights, have accused the ERCC board of “ignoring its own culpability”.

The BBC understands Ms Brindley has the full support of ***** Crisis Scotland’s board to stay in post despite ************* MSP Sue Webber calling for her to quit.

Ms Brindley said the controversy had led to ***** survivors who supported the charity experiencing “horrendous” ****** online, including being told that they “must be lying” about being ******.

“It is absolutely astonishing to me that this is the position we’re in where ***** survivors can be treated in this way in the name of women’s rights supposedly,” said Ms Brindley.

“I think the onus is on me as chief executive of ***** Crisis Scotland and on the ***** crisis movement to try and move to a place where ***** Crisis is not being weaponised in the way it has.”

She stressed that ***** survivors could rely on the charity and that it would meet their needs.

Ms Brindley also addressed the comments made by Ms Wadhwa in the podcast, saying: “I do not think the word ‘bigot’ and ‘***** survivor’ should be used in the same sentence.

“When that podcast came out, Mridul assured us that her comments had been taken out of context – that she hadn’t intended them to refer to ***** survivors that wanted a single-**** service.”

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The backdrop to this case is the long-running debate over gender reforms – and concerns among some campaigners about the impact on women’s spaces and services.

The Scottish government’s plans to change the law on gender recognition – and bring in a new system of self-ID – were blocked by *** ministers in 2023.

But the debate over the rights of both trans people and women and ****** has continued ever since.

Some say this case has exposed a ******* to prioritise gender ideology at the expense of women’s safety in an organisation that should be firmly focusing on the latter. Other say it is possible to offer a trans-inclusive service that still protects and promotes women’s rights.

As chief executive of ***** Crisis Scotland, Sandy Brindley has faced calls to resign. She has apologised to survivors and promised to improve oversight.

But it’s likely that questions over governance will remain – including what she knew and when, and whether action to address failings at Edinburgh ***** Crisis Centre could have been taken earlier.

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