Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matthew Scott has given his backing to a Gravesend charity which helps victims of sexual abuse and rape across Kent.

The PCC is following in the footsteps of predecessor Ann Barnes by providing funding for Family Matters, which is a free service for victims.

Although based in Gravesend, the charity offers help to people all across the county, as well as a selection of London boroughs.

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Being a free service, Family Matters relies greatly on funding from the PCC, in addition to sources such as the Big Lottery Fund and the Ministry of Justice, to carry out its vital work.

Continuing to fund the charity was one of Mr Scott’s pledges when he became Kent’s PCC. He said: “Family Matters is a very important local charity who do some excellent work supporting victims of rape and abuse when they most need it.

“They receive funding from my office in order to support those services because I believe in the work that they do and the importance attached to supporting those victims at their time of greatest need.

VIDEO: Matthew Scott also called for public vigilance during his visit to Gravesend following Wednesday night's knife attack in London

“I look forward to working with them over the next four years to do as much as we possibly can to support those people, and if there are any projects that we can work together on in the future then I would very much like to do so.”

His support is gratefully received by the team behind the charity, which cares for thousands of clients every single year.

The charity’s chief executive Mary Trevillion , said she was keen to continue to raise awareness of its good work in a bid to secure more volunteers and funding.

How Family Matters changes lives

One of the charity’s greatest success stories is its own chairman, John Doody, who says his life was turned around by the help he received.

Mr Doody was himself a victim of sexual abuse and said it was “a real weight off my shoulders” when he found the courage to tell someone about it, which subsequently led him to Family Matters.

“It’s an accepted statistic that something like one in four of the population have been affected at some point in their life by sexual abuse, and I am one of them,” he explained.

“Once I had the courage to tell someone I was put in touch with Family Matters for 12 weeks of one-to-one counselling.

“After that I felt like a completely different person, it was a real weight off my shoulders.

“It’s made such a huge difference to my life and I look back now and think how different my life would have been if I hadn’t had that.”

“The PCC has been really good to Family Matters and sexual abuse victims, and Matthew said in his first speech that he would come and see is at some point,” said the CEO.

“We want to raise our profile and we want to encourage victims of sexual abuse to find the courage to come forward.

“We also want to raise our necessary funding because we provide our services totally free of charge.”